The 59,402 litres of fake alcohol found on Thursday is being held temporarily at the department’s Kandal provincial and Phnom Penh headquarters. Ministry of Commerce
The General Department of Consumer Protection, Competition and Fraud Prevention gave an ultimatum to owners of the 59,402 litres of fake alcohol that were seized last Thursday to solve the problem by this Wednesday or face legal action.
The department’s director-general Phan Oun told The Post that in the department’s campaign it cracked down on the sale of 64,178 litres of fake alcohol (methanol) and are holding it for further legal procedures.
The 59,402 litres of fake alcohol found on Thursday is being held temporarily at the department’s Kandal provincial and Phnom Penh headquarters.
Oun said: “The department seized 64,178 litres of fake alcohol. But it is difficult for this methanol substance to be kept, so we also contacted major petrol station owners. But they don’t have places to store it. So, in line with procedures, we are requesting the prosecutor to destroy it.”
After recently seeing some opportunists exploiting the opportunity to import and distribute fake alcohol, Oun ordered his subordinate officials to immediately search for and crack down on the traffic and distribution of fake alcohol across the country.
As a result of the measures, on Thursday, deputy prosecutors in Kandal province and the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, department officials, officials of the police departments’ anti-economic crime bureaus and local authorities drove a mobile experimentation van to inspect two locations suspected of storing fake alcohol.
The first location was at #188, St 13A, in Kandal province’s Bek Chan commune in Ang Snuol district, and the second was at #02, St 01A, Borey Piphup Thmey gated community, in Kambol district’s Kantouk commune in Phnom Penh.
He said: “After the inspection and analysis, the municipal court deputy prosecutor allowed the department to seize and hold 59,402 litres of fake alcohol temporarily for further procedure.”
After the two locations were raided, the department on Friday informed the owners of the fake alcohol to come and solve the case by Wednesday.
Oun said: “As of Sunday, the owners have not yet come to solve the case and provide an explanation to the police.”
The department appealed to the public, particularly all retail and wholesale vendors, to please collaborate and learn about doing business responsibly to avoid harming consumers’ health and even confronting the law.
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