Muscat: Muscat Criminal Court on Thursday issued more jail sentences in the high-profile case known in the local media as the ‘oil sector corruption case’.
Sadiq Abdul Fattah Suliaman and Mohammad Mohammad Redha Mohammad, both Omanis, were found guilty of accepting bribes from Indians Pedkta Ravan and Moto Kumar of Larsen and Toubro Electromechanical Company.
The court sentenced Suliaman to seven years in jail and fined him 170,400 riyals (Dh1.6 million).
The court also sentenced Mohammad to seven years in jail and slapped him with a fine of 104,400 riyals. Both men were given lifetime bans on holding public office. Ravan and Kumar each received a five-year jail term and were both fined 137,400 riyals. They will be deported after serving their prison terms. The court also ordered all the accused to pay all legal expenses.
The court also acquitted one of the accused who was involved in leaking confidential documents from Petroleum Development Oman, the state oil company. An official at the Public Prosecution told Gulf News that such trials come under the anti-corruption campaign that the government started waging to protect public money.
More than 42 cases have been forwarded to both Appeal and Criminal courts of Muscat as per the Omani Penal Law, articles 155 and 156.
More than 35 civil servants and businessmen have gone on trial in Oman since 2013.
Earlier in 2014, the Muscat Primary Court convicted the former minister of commerce and industry, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the Chief Executive Officer of the Oman Oil Company for their involvement in corruption.
