Doha, April 02 (QNA) - The Interior Ministry's Search and Follow-up Department (SFD) revealed today that about 50 companies have been referred to the public prosecution on charges of visa sale during last year , adding that 84 cases in this respect have been registered.
 In a press release issued today, the SDF also revealed that prison sentences for periods ranging between one and three years were handed down to more than 40 people including migrants and citizens for visa sale in the same year. The total fines issued upon judgments valued about QAR 4.270 million on individuals and companies violating Law No. (4 ) of 2009 regulating the entry and exit of expatriates, their residence and sponsorship in the country.
 The statement emphasized that efforts are underway to seize the violators of laws governing the entry and residence of expatriates and to take legal action against them in order to eliminate the problem of illegal and runaway workers.     SDF Director Brigadier Nasser Mohamed Al Sayed said the department is carrying out its role in enforcing Law No. ( 4 ) of 2009 regulating the entry and exit of expatriates, their residence and sponsorship in the country, through inspection campaigns in all geographic areas of the state and the arrest of many of offenders through such campaigns.
   He pointed out that the Department has analyzed the results of the campaigns which it carried out finding that fake companies directly contribute to the increase in the number of illegal and runaway employment in the country which entails the taking of a package of measures and procedures to prosecute the perpetrators of such offenses as it represents a threat to community security and a disorder in the labour market in Qatar, adding that the Department has formed special research and investigation team for such offenses and another to study and investigate into such violations.
Brigadier Nasser Mohamed Al Sayed said due to the difficulty of evidence in such cases given their complexity and because they occur outside the boundaries of the state through intermediaries of the same nationality of the victims, the Department continued work with all the effort and dedication to prove these violations and refer them to the residence affairs prosecution with complete evidence and documents proving the perpetration of such offenses.
 He said these efforts resulted, in 2013 and up to the present time, in good and positive results in this regard. Subsequently several deterrent sentences were issued by residence affairs court including imprisonment and a fines against some companies and individuals who deal in visas , as well as the inclusion of those companies in the list of companies banned from recruitment in the future . Brigadier Al Sayed explained that the results included the registration of 84 cases against citizens and expatriates on charges of visa sale, with more than 50 companies referred to the prosecution which referred them to the court that sentenced more than forty people including citizens and expatriates to prison terms ranging between one and three years.
In the same context, Brigadier Al Sayed explained that the value of fines against citizens, expatriates and companies for visa sale crimes reached QAR 4,270,000. He stressed that the Ministry of Interior, represented by the Search and Follow-up Department, deal with the victims of such practices from humanitarian aspects, explaining that sponsorships of more than 1000 workers were transferred to other work places.(QNA)