• 18 individuals were arrested in the food fraud ring case.
• A couple was fined Dh39 million.
• Other defendants receive prison sentences ranging from 3 to 15 years.

In 12 cases, a citizen, his spouse, and sixteen other defendants of various nationalities were found guilty of charges including defacing public property, commercial fraud, profiteering, forgery, bribery, appropriation, and disturbing a public facility.

The first defendant and his spouse were fined Dh39 million and given a 66-year prison sentence by the Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation.

The other defendants were also given prison sentences by the court. Their penalty varies from three to fifteen years. Additionally, they have been penalized Dh13 million in total.

The defendants were recommended by the Public Prosecution to set up private warehouses, store expired food and other consumer goods, and then illegally change the expiration dates of such goods before reselling them. This led to the ruling.

The defendants put people’s health and lives in jeopardy by changing the products’ primary characteristics and expiration dates and by providing false and deceptive marketing data for the goods, which included organic food items.

Additionally, they used deceptive advertising and false statistics to sell the contaminated, outdated items, giving the impression that they were of high quality and suitable for eating in an effort to persuade the public to purchase them.

The following offenses have also resulted in their convictions: requesting and accepting gifts in exchange for allegedly exerting influence by claiming to be able to interfere with a public authority to obtain an advantage; installing a meter and breaking regulations when laying a water pipe to connect a farm; damaging public body pipes by connecting a farm’s water pipe to the main pipe, which reduced water flow and interfered with the public body’s operations.

Additionally, by removing the electrical panel’s primary protection, they purposefully damaged the electrical equipment in six of the first defendant’s properties. This resulted in a short circuit, which disrupted the public body’s electricity supply and cut off power to other recipients.

Additionally, they broke the terms and standards by purposefully disconnecting and re-connecting the electrical panel wires in the first defendant’s properties, putting others’ lives in danger and raising the possibility of an electrical leak or ignition that could cause significant damage.

The defendants also attempted to forge official documents and electronic files that they used to commit these crimes, appropriate the public road dividing two farms, and disrupt public transportation by merging the two farms and using the road separating the two agricultural holdings unlawfully.

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