RIYADH — Inspection teams from the Ministry of Commerce busted a warehouse run by an Asian resident in southern Al-Faisaliah neighborhood of Riyadh. The inspectors shut down the facility after seizing 33,000 pieces of counterfeit products. The Asian resident and other violators were arrested and referred to the Public Prosecution to complete the legal procedures against them. The legal procedures were taken in cooperation and coordination with the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property and security agencies. The seized items included 33,459 counterfeit blankets and about 28,000 pieces of bags and printed materials used in fraud and counterfeiting. It was found in inspections that the Asian resident used to falsify the country of origin of blankets and mattresses, packed and wrapped them after replacing the country of origin from China to Spain and South Korea in order to mislead and deceive the consumers about the quality of goods. It was also found that commercial cover-up was involved in it with concluding of an agreement to share profits at a rate of 40 percent for a Saudi citizen and 60 percent for the resident, in addition to tax evasion violations in terms of the failure to issue invoices, and using trademarks owned by others. It is noteworthy that the provisions of the Anti-Cover-Up Law and Anti-Commercial Fraud Law stipulate penalties, including prison sentences of up to five years, a fine of up to SR5million, and the seizure and confiscation of illicit funds after the issuance of final judicial rulings against those involved in such crimes. The foreign workers involved in such crimes will be deported after serving the jail terms and the violation will be publicized in the local media at their own personal expense.
