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Govt continues to launch surprise inspection campaigns
KUWAIT: The series of confiscating expired food unfit for human consumption continues, as there are no signs that this series will end anytime in the near future.


Within less than two weeks, large quantities of rotten frozen meat, fish and chicken were confiscated in addition to tons of rotten milk, buffalo meat, 2,000 boxes of bottled water as well as large quantities of mango juice, cheese and ice cream.


Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Monitoring Affairs within the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Abdulaziz Al-Khaledi said that the foodstuff, which was confiscated last Friday, expired several years ago with the dates tampered. He confirmed that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in cooperation with Kuwait Municipality and the Ministry of Interior, will continue launching sudden inspection campaigns to confiscate rotten food supplies, stressing that the three government bodies are keen to confront traders involved in commercial fraud and penalize them in accordance to law.


Al-Khaledi said that the inspectors intensified inspection tours in the local market, stressing the Ministry of Commerce and industry will apply the fourth article of Anti-Commercial Fraud law on violators, including the closure of shops. He explained that the inspection campaigns will also include restaurants and public cafes to make sure that they abide by the laws.


He stressed the importance of the cooperation between the ministry and Kuwait municipality to confront the violators, adding that stores can be inspected at any time in order to check the expiry dates of food items.


Al-Khaledi appealed to citizens who own apartment buildings to make sure that the tenants do not use their apartments as illegal stores where expiry dates of food stuff get tampered. He said that Law No. 62 for 2007 on confronting commercial fraud will be applied on violators, explaining that the second article of the law state that violators shall be sent to prison for not more than three years and pay a fine of not more than 20,000 Kuwaiti dinars.


During a symposium under the theme "A call to the Prime Minister" to stop the series of violations and to put an end to administrative corruption with the Municipality, MPs Askar Al-Enezi, Mubarak Al-Walaan, Naji Al-Abdulhadi, Musallam Al-Barrak, Ali Al-Diqbasi and a number of lawmakers held Minister Fadhil Safar responsible for the administrative corruption at the Municipality. They also called for dismissing Safar from office. They said that sending a number of Kuwaiti consultants within the Municipality to retirement serves the foreigners at the expense of efficient citizens.


Some MPs expected that the issue of rotten foodstuff will spoil the relationship between the executive and legislative authorities, as MP Saad Al-Khanfour asked the government represented by Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Fadhil Safar to unveil the names of the companies responsible for allowing such rotten food into the country with the intention of harming citizens and expatriates.


In the same vein, Al Watan was informed of a number of Shiite prominent figures and lawmakers who are seeking to hold a meeting to discuss how to support Minister Safar who, according to them, is subject to fierce attack, because of the issue of rotten food and other files.

Sources said that this harsh attack is launched against the minister because he refuses to mediate some people who want to violate the laws and regulations of the ministry.

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