Public Prosecution: Big jump in cases related to e-transactions

Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman’s Public Prosecution (PP) said that 96 percent of the the total cases received were disposed of and the the acquittal of the cases referred by the Public Prosecution to the courts did not exceed six percent.

Revealing details at the annual press conerence of the Public Prosecution, the officials said the number of human trafficking cases increased during 2021 to 17 cases, compared to only seven in 2020, while that of money laundering was 138 in 2021.

Dr. Ahmed bin Saeed al Shukaili, assistant public prosecutor, said the number of felonies reported in 2021 increased by 73 cases at the rate of 6.2 percent to 1,255 while only 1,182 cases were reported in 2020.

Other highlights:

The number of cases received in 2021 is 28,201.

Most commonly reported crimes in 2021 include drug trafficking and child molestation.

The premeditated murder cases rose to 13 in 2021.

The Public Prosecution filed 11,527 cases in 2021 and around 1,005 cases from 2021 are still under investigation.

The number of accused persons in 2021 is 34,873, while 10,350 criminal judgments were enforced.

The funds collected in 2021 amount to RO20, 258,127.

Bounced cheques (7,143) continue to top of the the list of most cases commited in the last years, followed by those related to IT and electronic transactions (2,894).

“The registration of information technology crimes and electronic transactions was among the top 10 cases during the past year in the Sultanate of Oman, which constitutes an alarm bell that calls for concerted efforts by all to reduce it.”

111 cases related to the use of social media were registered, of which 55 cases were referred to the courts

In the Bidya murder case, a suspect has been arrested and is being tried in India.

Most of the perpetrators of cybercrime are from outside the Sultanate of Oman, and seveeral international and bilateral agreements helped to pursue them.

There were 1,470 cases related to insulting people using technology, 322 related to assaulting the sanctity of private life 322, 270 related to threatening people 270, and 29 related to extortion.

Rumors and behavior through social media can cause harm to society for years, and addressing them is an obligation.

There were 107 cases related to compromising of public funds.