Firms warned to provide all records in rogue trader clampdown

Energy Sunday 16/June/2019 12:14 PM
By: Times News Service
Firms warned to provide all records in rogue trader clampdown

MUSCAT: Companies set up for the sole purpose of obtaining visas to recruit expats are being actively targeted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI). In a warning notice, the ministry stated: “Companies must provide documentation of their effectiveness in the transfer and sale of shares in order to reduce hidden trade and the sale of commercial registers.
“The Ministry revealed a number of commercial registers owners who open more than one register and sell without doing any business or for the purpose of obtaining manpower licenses and lay-off workers in the country.”
The ministry statement adds that all paperwork is required to be submitted.
“Documentation includes lease contract of the company, bank account records, municipal permits and fiscal lists for the companies that have completed one year since registration.”
The latest clampdown on hidden trade comes in the wake of a series of high profile arrests and court cases where Omani employers were cooking their books to enable the trade in so-called “free visas”, where expat workers come to Oman it do not work directly for the Omani sponsor who brought them into the country.