A Wembley-based business and its director have been ordered to pay almost £43,000 for supplying illegal cosmetics to retailers in Barking and Dagenham.
Beauty Star Ltd, of Wembley Park Business Centre, and the company’s director Paul Harinder Singh were found guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, 19 July for importing and providing products that didn’t meet strict EU safety regulations.
Singh, 64, of Astons Road, Northwood, was charged with five offences relating specifically to two items – Jergens moisturiser and Blue Magic Indian hemp conditioner.
Neither product had the correct labelling and the Jergens cosmetics had no product information file, an essential safety prerequisite that identifies who imported a product and what ingredients it contains in case a consumer suffers a bad reaction.
Barking and Dagenham Council Trading Standards launched an investigation into the wholesaler after officers seized a number of illegally labelled products from two retailers in the borough – one of which has already been sentenced and ordered to pay over £14,500.
Here is yet another business that has found out Barking and Dagenham Council is no pushover when it comes to confronting companies who compromise on safety in pursuit of profit.
Councillor Margaret Mullane, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety, said: “Here is yet another business that has found out Barking and Dagenham Council is no pushover when it comes to confronting companies who compromise on safety in pursuit of profit.
“These regulations are there to protect residents and keep them from being harmed, and we will continue fighting in the people’s corner to make sure what is for sale on the shelves in our borough is safe to use.”
At the court hearing, Mr Singh and Beauty Star Ltd were issued a £1,000 fine, a further £5,000 costs were awarded to the council and a confiscation order for £36,976.36 under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Approximately 37.5 per cent of funds received through the Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation order will be used to prevent, detect and prosecution crime for benefit of Barking and Dagenham residents.