The Equatorial Guinean justice system has condemned the company Comercial Santy after a health scandal for having changed the expiry dates of food products, announced Tuesday on state television.
Comercial Santy, an import-export company established in Equatorial Guinea since the 1960s, was condemned by a court in Bata, the economic capital of this Central African country, for “offences against public health” after selling unauthorized pharmaceutical products. The company will have to pay a fine of 411 million CFA francs, about 625,000 euros, according to the state TVGE.
The Bata court also ordered the confiscation of the machines used to change the expiry dates and the destruction of all products confiscated by the authorities whose dates were altered.
Several employees and managers of Comercial Santy, of Spanish, Indian and Colombian nationality, arrested in March, were also found guilty and ordered to pay the fine jointly.
Comercial Santy is one of the main supermarket and pharmaceutical chains in Equatorial Guinea. It employs a majority of South Americans.
In 2006, tainted frozen products intended for sale by Comercial Santy were seized by the Equatorial Guinean authorities.