• On February 26, China Square has announced that the shop will remain closed indefinitely to allow time to sort out a number of issues
• The Anti-Counterfeit Authority has returned goods worth Sh50 million to China Square after it was established they were not fake
By Chasi Jill
In a statement on Thursday, the authority said the complainant, Smithmo Company Ltd, withdrew the complaint after confirming that the ‘Finder’ branded goods were sourced from the same manufacturer and international brand owner.
“We would like to clarify that the Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) has released the goods that were seized at the China Square worth 50 million shillings. The goods were seized on 16th February 2023 following a complaint received from Smithmo Company Ltd, which suspected the sale of counterfeit Finder Tools within the premises,” read the statement.
“In light of this new information, ACA conducted a thorough investigation and verified the source of the goods, and we can confirm that they are authentic Finder Tools. As such, we have released the goods to the rightful owner.”
The goods were seized on February 16 after Smithmo made a complaint to the anti-counterfeit agency.
The Anti-Counterfeit Authority has urged the public to be vigilant when purchasing goods and report any cases of counterfeit products in the market.
“We would like to urge members of the public to be vigilant when purchasing goods to avoid falling victim to counterfeit products. We also encourage them to report any suspected cases of counterfeit products to ACA to help protect their rights and interests,” ACA stated.
“We thank the public for their cooperation in this matter, and we will continue to work tirelessly to protect consumers from counterfeit goods.”
On Tuesday, business owners in the CBD held demonstrations to condemn the shop over what they termed as unfair business practices.
The business community said they were losing customers to the Chinese shop located at Unicity Mall on Thika Road due to its low-priced commodities
On February 26, China Square has announced that the shop will remain closed indefinitely to allow time to sort out a number of issues.
