Two businessmen, a manager and 19 employees lodged a court appeal against a ruling finding them guilty of involvement in altering validity dates on expired food products.
In the original Lower Criminal Court proceedings, two food distribution companies, owned by the businessmen, had stood trial as an ‘artificial person’ alongside the 22 suspects.
Now, the accused have appealed at the High Criminal Appeals Court, and all but one appeared in the court.
Judges will issue a verdict on August 20.
Last month, one of the owners was sentenced to three years in prison and fined BD100,000, while his brother, the other owner, was only fined BD101,000.
A manager was sentenced to three years in jail, while 19 other defendants, identified as Asian in court documents, working for the establishments were given two-year prison sentences each.
All retail outlets of the two family-owned companies will be closed for six months, and the businesses have to pay BD10,000 fine for each outlet.
The judge also ruled that all expat defendants are to be deported after completing their sentences, and ordered to confiscate all invalid food items and the tools used in altering their expiry dates.
Thousands of food items were destroyed by the Industry and Commerce Ministry in Askar landfill.
Over the course of one week, 21 truckloads of expired frozen meat, poultry, nuts and sweets were destroyed.
The GDN previously reported that a worker who had recently arrived in Bahrain in order to work in one of the warehouses had lodged a complaint with the police about the alleged malpractice.
The companies were identified as Aldaaysi Markets and its registered warehouse, Aldaaysi Distribution.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))