2019 Fake Drug Imports Case: High Court clears Tobinco Pharmaceuticals

The High Court in Accra has reportedly cleared Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited (TPL) and its Group Chairman, Elder Dr. Samuel Amo Tobbin, of any wrongdoing in the case filed against the company by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), accusing it of importing fake drugs into the country.

According to a press release issued on Sunday, August 11, 2024, by Tobinco, the court presided over by Her Ladyship Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, in a ruling dated July 29, 2024, stated that the company never imported fake drugs into Ghana.

The company indicated that it sued the FDA on July 19, 2019, when it was led by its former Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, accusing it of abuse of statutory powers.

Tobinco indicated that Dr. Kwabena Opuni, between September and December 2013, targeted it under the pretence that it was importing fake drugs.

Tobinco stated that the FDA in 2013, during its adversarial operation, locked its warehouses across the country, causing needless embarrassment to the company and its group chairman.

It added that the FDA further banned Bliss GVS Pharma Limited, the then principal business partner of Tobinco, from exporting drugs into Ghana and labelled their drugs as fake, leading to the confiscation of its drugs from customers.

The court has now ruled that it was unlawful for the FDA to stop Tobinco from selling its products. It also ruled that the authority erred in barring Bliss GVS Pharma Limited from exporting drugs into Ghana without approval from the Ministry of Health.

Below are briefs from the court ruling shared by Tobinco:

1. The court determined that Tobinco did not import fake drugs into the Ghanaian market.

2. The court affirmed that the acts of the FDA and its Chief Executive Officer at the time, Dr. Opuni, constituted misfeasance of a public office, i.e., an abuse of the FDA’s statutory powers and duties.

3. The court confirmed that after Tobinco was fined because some of its drugs had expired in terms of registration, the FDA, led by Dr. Opuni, failed or refused to register the drugs that had not expired in terms of registration.

4. The court found that Tobinco's contention was that the FDA's former CEO, Dr. Opuni, targeted the company without any reason, as Dr. Opuni's departure led to the registration of the same drugs under a new CEO, Mr. Hudu Mogtari.

5. The court acknowledged the coercion of Tobinco's CEO and the Director of Bliss GVS Pharma, Mr. Kamath, to sign the so-called confession statements.

6. The court explained that a review of both documents confirmed that the wording is the same, with the only differences being the letterhead and the names and signatures of the signatories.

7. The court expressed its view that if Dr. Tobbin and Mr. Kamath had written the documents separately, it is unlikely the wording would have been identical.

8. The court also confirmed that the FDA took the letterheads of Tobinco and Bliss GVS Pharma from Tobinco's offices, provided them to BNI, now NIB, and used them to type out statements for them to sign.

9. The court confirmed that it was unlawful for the FDA to prohibit the sale of Tobinco’s products without obtaining an Executive Instrument from the Minister of Health.

10. The court ruled that it was unlawful for the FDA to ban Bliss GVS Pharma Limited from exporting drugs into Ghana without the Minister's approval of an Executive Instrument.

11. The court affirmed that the unlawful conduct of the FDA and its former CEO, Dr. Opuni, caused substantial damage and loss to the plaintiff's business.

Read the full statement below:





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