MUSCAT – The Public Prosecution Department today reported that the number of lawsuits filed to its units during 2023 grew by 17.2 percent (to a total of 37,836) as against the figure registered in 2022.
This was unveiled during an annual conference of Public Prosecution titled “Procedural Justice”. The conference tackled various topics of relevance to annual statistical indicators of lawsuits, the number of defendants and the type of rulings issued.
Attorney General Nasr Khamis Al Sawa’ee spoke about data on crimes related to public funds and money laundering during 2022 and 2023. Statistics showed that, in 2022, sixty-two lawsuits about those crimes were field against employees who either acted beyond the discretions endorsed for their jobs or failed to meet the standards when performing their duties, he said. He added that the number of such crimes grew to 105 in 2023. Yet, he affirmed, Oman globally ranks among countries that have the lowest crime rate, compared to countries with which Oman is similar in terms of economic, geographical and social structures.
Dr. Ahmed Said Al Shukaili, Assistant Attorney General and Official Spokesman of the Public Prosecution department, said that the majority of lawsuits filed during 2023 were crimes of misdemeanor (35,777), followed by felonies (3,777) and crimes pertaining to violations of administrative procedures (282 cases).
Al Shukaili pointed out that 96. 9 percent of the cases were sealed and that only 3.1 percent of them remained unsettled.
Giving a breakup, Al Shukaili said that the majority of the lawsuits were filed in the Governorate of Muscat (16,534), followed by North Al Batinah Governorate (5,913 cases) and Dhofar Governorate (3,922 cases).
In terms of peak rates during 2022-2023, Al Dhahirah Governorate saw a surge in cases (56 percent), followed by Al Wusta Governorate (55 percent), Al Shukaili observed.
He explained that premeditated murder crimes went down to 7 during 2023, compared to 13 in 2022. A total of 219 lawsuits were field about public funds and money laundering in 2023, compared to 154 such cases in 2022, said Al Shukaili, noting that regained funds during 2023 stood at RO 3,432,637.
Al Shukaili pointed out that the number of lawsuits on felonies filed to the Public Prosecution Department in 2023 rose by 399 to a total of 1,777 cases, an increase of 29 percent over the figure of 2022 (1,378 felonies). He explained that felonies constituted 4.7 percent of the total number of lawsuits filed to the Public Prosecution Department in 2023.
Statistics show that the crime of issuing bad cheques topped the list of most common crimes committed in 2023 (8,461 cases), followed by labour law violation crimes (7,571 cases), crimes related to the violation of expatriate residency law (6,263 cases), the violation of the Consumer Protection Law (3,340 cases) and fraud crimes (3,202 cases), said Al Shukaili.
(Source: ONA)
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