DRAP strikes back at PDLF chief to clarify its position

Islamabad : The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has expressed grave concern over allegations leveled against its Chief Executive Officer and other officials, by the President of the Pakistan Drug Lawyers Forum (PDLF) Noor Mohammad Mahar who, in a recent letter addressed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, has called for a joint investigation to expose the alleged corruption within DRAP, and protection of watchdog institutions so that they can act as whistle-blowers to uproot corruption.

“Spurious drug manufacturer Noor Muhammad Mahar, who is nominated accused in more than 155 FIR’ for manufacturing and sale of spurious, unregistered and substandard medicines, is still out of the grip of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and operating freely to malign officers of DRAP, who took a stand to stop his illegal activities,” states a press release issued by DRAP here Sunday.

Clarifying its position, DRAP claims to have exposed the corruption of the owners of Everest Pharma including Noor Muhammad Mahar through the assistance of the Supreme Court, FIA and NAB. “In early 2018, DRAP received a complaint about Everest being involved in manufacturing of spurious, un-registered and substandard medicines. Noor Mahar is one of the owners of the firm. DRAP tried to take action against the firm but the powerful owners of the company pressurized DRAP officers through various tactics including lodging of applications in police stations,” the press release alleges.

“Noor Muhammad Mahar, under the garb of Pakistan Drug Lawyers’ Forum and Young Pharmacists Association, started a malicious media campaign against officers of DRAP. Due to their blackmailing, no Law LEA was cooperating with DRAP to take action against Everest before February 2018. DRAP has already admitted that these criminals are so powerful that it had to request the Supreme Court to direct the LEAs to cooperate for action against them. The apex court, while hearing Human Rights Application filed by DRAP, directed DRAP and LEAs to take action against Everest,” the press release states.

Thereafter, a team comprising officers from DRAP, FIA and NAB inspected Everest Pharmaceuticals and reported the firm’s involvement in manufacturing of unregistered, spurious and sex medicines. As such, the Licensing Board canceled the manufacturing license of Everest. Moreover, FIR was lodged against owners of the firm namely, Muhammad Usman and Dr. Kamran Izhaar, who are behind the bars, and Noor Muhammad Mehar, still an absconder, the press release states.

“As part of the National Task Force campaign against spurious drugs, permissions for lodging of 155 FIRs were granted against Everest; of these, 60 FIRs have been lodged and 95 are in process. As many as 128 cases of illegally imported pharmaceutical raw materials with fake endorsement of DRAP have been forwarded to NAB, FIA and the Collectorate of Customs Appraisement for cognizance under the law,” the press release states.

“This group is running a malicious campaign against CEO DRAP Dr. Sheikh Akhter Hussain, quoting two NAB references declaring him deceased. NAB has cleared the officer in the case where he was wrongly arrayed as deceased. NAB has submitted a detailed report in the Islamabad High Court, maintaining that the petitioner is trying to mislead the court and all adverse allegations levelled against the officer are false, baseless and without any evidence,” the DRAP press release concludes.