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Doha Events 2011
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Legal consulttation Thursday, 24 February 2011 01:20
by Abdelaal A Khalil (Legal consultant)
Question: What is the penalty for the seller, distributor or producer for violation of the conditions of offering merchandises for circulation?
• Consumers’ Protection Law No 8 of 2008, states the violator shall be penalized with prison for maximum of two years and a fine of less than five thousand riyals and maximum 50,000 riyals or one of these penalties without prejudice to more severe penalty provided for by any other law.
• Penalty shall be duplicated in case of repetition. The accused shall be considered as repeating the act if they commit a similar crime within five years from the date of end or expiry of the decided penalty.
All crimes provided for herein shall be the same for the cases of repetition.
• The penalty shall be the fine of at least five thousand riyals and maximum one hundred thousand riyals if the provider does not warn the danger of using the merchandise or the service clearly and leads to a damage.
The court, in case of conviction, may, instead of the decided penalty, issue its judgment to confiscate the merchandise, the subject of violation, and materials and tools used for their production and close the store or the place in which the crime has been committed for a period not less than one month and not more than three months, and to publish the summary of the issued judgment for conviction in two daily newspapers on the convicted party’s expense.
Question: A person is receiving via e-mail many messages from unknown people requesting him to provide them with his personal data and bank account number to transfer amounts of money to his banking account against a percentage of the amount. He is asking if there is any legal liability resulting from cooperation with them.
Law No. 4/2004, concerning countering money laundering and terrorism financing, states that each one commits or starts to commit any crimes of money laundering shall be penalised with prison for maximum seven years and a fine up to 2 million riyals. The penalty shall be duplicated if the perpetrator commits the crime with partnership of any person or more or through an organised criminal group or terrorist organisation. The perpetrators may be penalised by preventing them from continuation of practice of any work, profession or action that contributed to provide the opportunity for commitment of any money laundering crimes as per Anti Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Law No. 4 of 2010.
These transactions are suspected and the source of such money is unknown.
Therefore, the following acts shall be legally considered as money laundering:
• Transfer of money by any person who knows or suspects that such money is derived from crime for the purpose of hiding or concealing the illegitimate source of this money or to help any person involved in committing a financial crime to get rid of legal outcomes of their acts.
• Hiding or concealing the genuine nature, source or place of money or disposing of, moving or processing of it or rights related to by any person who knows, should know or suspects that such money is coming from a crime.
• Possessing, acquisition or using money by any person who knows, should know, or suspects that such money is out of crime.
Knowing that the law states that there is a controlling body overseeing the financial institutions, non-financial businesses and professions and non-profitable organizations to make sure of their commitment to anti-money laundering and terrorism financing requirements in addition to the close cooperation among the internal State’s authorities to seize any of the abovementioned actions and international cooperation in order to eliminate such crimes.
Therefore, we recommend to delete such email messages once you receive and not to contract with the senders.
Question: The company where my husband works did not allow him to bring me to Qatar and sponsor me. Is this legal? Can my husband sponsor me after his contract with the company comes to an end? Can I sponsor my children when I come to Qatar? Should I receive financial benefits equal to men, particularly like the residence permit and air travel tickets, if I do the same jobs in Qatar?
Employers have to approve the marital status of their hired workers before giving them a contract. Whether employers have approved this marital status can be determined from the residence and air travel allowance employers include in the contract.
If the terms of the contract say the worker has the right to residence and air travel allowance for his/her family, this allowance has to be given him/her once his/he family comes to Qatar.
This is applicable to all workers, regardless of their sex, provided that these workers are sponsored by the company.
Wives and husbands can sponsor each other after submitting the necessary documents to the Ministry of Interior. Wives can also sponsor their children in the light of the procedures of the Ministry of Interior.
According to Labour Law No. 14/2004, female workers have to get the same salary of their male co-workers if they do the same job. Female workers have to be given the same training and promotion opportunities.
THE PENINSULA