KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: Inspectors from the Department of Cooperative Monitoring and Inspection at the Ministry of Social Affairs have discovered that some companies, which were entrusted with supplying fruits and vegetables to cooperative societies, forged customs declaration certificates that prove their works in importing products from abroad, reports Aljarida daily quoting informed sources.

They explained that the rules and regulations for allowing companies to supply cooperative societies with fruits and vegetables entail issuance of customs declaration certificates.

However, those companies were unable to produce these certificates, leading to its falsification. The concerned department forwarded a memo concerning the incident to the Department of Legal Affairs within the ministry.

This department will in turn refer the case to the concerned authorities in the country for legal procedures against the companies. The sources went on to say the Cooperative Societies Sector of the ministry has been working on implementing new mechanism and regulations for marketing local products in the cooperative societies.

This will happen after the protocol of cooperation with the Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies and Kuwaiti Farmers Union for that purpose is canceled. Assistant Undersecretary for Cooperative Societies Salem Al- Rashidi directed the Inspection and Monitoring Department to intensify field inspection in the cooperative societies to ensure adherence to the mechanism of direct purchase that has been in use for a long time until new regulations are issued.