The Ministry of Commerce has defamed a citizen and an expat of Pakistani nationality after a court ruling convicted them of the crime of commercial concealment. It has been proved that the citizen is involved in enabling the expat to practice a commercial activity that he is not authorized to practice in it, and to work for his own account in marketing and selling dates in Buraidah.
The Ministry has published a summary of the judicial ruling issued by the Criminal Court in Buraidah, including a fine of 60,000 riyals, deporting the expat from the Kingdom, after the execution of the ruling and not to be allowed to return for work, collecting zakat, fees and taxes, besides defamation by publishing the verdict in a local newspaper at the expense of the violators
Notably, during the past months, the Ministry of Commerce has published eight judicial rulings issued against citizens and expats convicted of the crime of covering up in date markets in Qassim Region. This is after carrying out inspection tours targeting markets and outlets selling dates in the cities and governorates of Qassim Region, where those involved were referred to the judicial authorities and the rulings issued against them were executed according to the Anti-Commercial Concealment Law.
The Ministry of Commerce receives the complaints and reports about the commercial concealment through MC Consumer Call Center (1900), or through the application of a Commercial Violation Report through the link
https://mci.gov.sa/C-app, or via the Ministry's website. Notably, the Ministry grants a reward to the informer of up to 30% of the total fines, after collection. The fine may reach to five million riyals against each violator.