Muscat,
The Public Prosecution Department (PPD) affirmed that it settled 97.9 percent of the cases filed in 2024. The cases were termed sealed through final settlement or referral or issuance of penal order.
The success rate was 97.6 percent for cases in which the court followed the actions of the PPD, either by condemnation or by upholding decisions for filing.
This was unveiled at the annual PPD conference held today.
Speaking at the conference, Attorney General Nasr Khamis Al Sawa’i said that 32 of the rulings pertaining to public funds were issued in 2024 and 2025.
He added that 25 percent of the cases that were referred to the courts in 2023 were settled and that related fines stood at RO 1.43 million, while instances of restitution and confiscation stood at RO 15.407 million—together making a total of RO 16,841,410.
Al Sawa’i said that the total number of cases related to public funds and money laundering in 2024 stood at 192 crimes, including 33 felonies and 159 cases of misdemeanour, while the number of false cheques and fraud misdemeanour cases (a predicate crime to money laundering) stood at 132 crimes.
The PPD appointed 73 public prosecution members specialized in juvenile cases to operate in various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, said Al Sawa’i, noting that steps are underway to raise the number in the forthcoming stage.
He pointed out that modern technology, like artificial intelligence, helped chart out the PPD’s course of action, making a PPD’s member decisions closer to accuracy. He added that, despite the rise in number of cases, the achievement rate grew to 97.9 percent.
Al Sawa’i affirmed PPD’s readiness to handle false claims filed via social media sites that target Oman’s “national fabric or accomplishments”, noting that a vigilant PPD team is monitoring social media sites that publish such false or forged content.
For his part, Dr. Rashid Obaid Al Kaabi, Assistant Attorney General, said that the number of crimes against children in 2024 grew to 1,325 cases, including harassment, physical assault, other forms of violence and exposing the underaged to juvenile delinquency.
The number of cases filed to the PPD in 2024 grew by 22.5 over the figures of 2023. The total number of cases field in 2024 (46,359 cases) included 43,957 cases of misdemeanour, 2,281 felonies and 121 reports of violations, administrative complaints and other incidents.
The number of defendants during the past year stood at 58,858, among them 89.2 percent were males, 1.8 percent were minors and 46.8 percent were foreigners. The number of defendants registered a rise of 23.5 percent over 2023 figure.
Muscat Governorate registered the largest number of cases (20,852 cases), followed by North Al Batinah Governorate (7,500 cases) and Dhofar Governorate (4,457 cases).
Statistics show that 32,856 cases were forwarded by the Royal Oman Police (ROP), followed by 5,757 cases from the PPD’s e-services portal and 4,142 cases from the Ministry of Labour.
Labour law suits topped the list of five most common crimes during 2024 (a total of 12,407 cases), followed by false cheque crimes (9,699 cases), foreign residency law crimes (9,154 cases), fraud crimes (5,343 cases) and theft and extortion crimes (4,002 cases).
As many as 21,414 rulings were issued in 2024, up by 20.1 percent over the figures of 2023, of which 17,547 rulings were carried out. Settled rulings in 2024 registered an increase of 13 percent over 2023 figures.
The total number of cases received electronically by the PPD during 2024 stood at 45,538, up by 24 percent over 2023 figures. The number of judicial orders amounted to 261,650 against 83,305 investigation reports conducted in 2024.
