​Two jailed, fined and deported for improper sale of food to school

Muscat: Two expats were fined OMR2,000, ordered to be jailed and then deportated from the country, for selling food to a kindergarten school without specifying a validity period on the packaging.

The Court of First Instance in the Wilayat of Samail recently issued a judgment against two defendants for violating the Consumer Protection Law No. 66/2014 and its executive regulations.

"The Department of Consumer Protection in ِAl Dakhiliyah Governorate received a report from one of the kindergarten schools in the Wilayat of Samail stating that a salesman of Arab nationality sold food items (cakes) that did not have expiration date," PACP said in a statement online.

After the investigation, PACP authorities noticed that the validity dates were scratched out from the packaging. The goods were confiscated and all the necessary procedures were taken. It was found that food was being sourced from a company operating in the shipping and export industry in Muscat Governorate.

The court convicted the first defendant of committing the misdemeanor of non-compliance with providing the consumer with incorrect information about the product, and sentenced him to a year's imprisonment and a fine of OMR1,000. The court ordered that his work permit be cancelled and to permanently deport him from the country.

The court also convicted the second defendant in absentia, for committing the misdemeanors of failing to provide the consumer with correct information about the product, for hiring a non-Omani worker who was not authorised to work with him in accordance with his license. The second defendant was given the same punishment.