Kinapharma Sues Police?

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the management of Kinapharma, a pharmaceutical company, is expected to haul the Ghana Police Service before the country�s courts to answer charges of tarnishing their hard-earned reputation, defamation of character of its top management and for feeding the media with negative stories about their alleged drug bust. The General Manager of the Kinapharma Pharmaceutical Company, Mr. Eshun Fameyeh, who disclosed this to PEACEFM, said they have nothing against the police conducting investigations into allegations, and the ordering of a search or taking samples or even confiscating chemicals for further analysis. �The problem is with the methods used, the actions taken and the statements made, the leaks to the media when there was a greater likelihood that there was nothing more than what was there, especially when they were on the premises of a company with permits to import restricted raw materials,� he said. According to the General Manager, their warehouse on the Spintex Road in Accra was raided by armed police personnel in a 14-vehicle convoy. �Though the Head of the Police team initially said it was a routine visit, he asked to be conducted round our premises. After an extensive tour, he demanded access to the company�s restricted products strong room�. That strong room or warehouse had 3 steel doors and 18 padlocks and could not be tampered with in the absence of officials of the Food and Drugs Boards (FDB) and the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB�I told him that for security reasons, three different officers had to be assembled before all doors to the room could be opened because it housed only drugs imported under special Food and Drugs Board (FDB) permits�.Infact it was based on the recommendations of the FDB and NACOB that the place was secured to that level, since it had suffered two separate attacks from armed robbers�,� he narrated. Mr. Eshun Fameyeh was speaking in an exclusive interview on �Kokrokoo�, PEACEFM�s flagship Morning show. Mr. Fameyeh said, he was informed by the leader of police raid team that the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Bio-Atinga, had given them authorization for an inspection to be conducted in the �strong room�. He revealed that a visibly angry Rose Bio-Atinga snapped at him on phone; �Do you also have the permit to import cocaine,� when he (Famiyeh) left a note on her desk and later sent her (Bio-Atinga) a text message to the effect that since Kinapharma had permits to import �restricted� raw materials, they (Kinapharma) had notified the FDB and NACOB about the police intention to search their �strong-room� and possibly confiscate chemicals for further analysis. �Do you think I�m afraid of you�what do you mean by having a permit� Do you also have the permit to import cocaine,� the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander sarcastically said. According to Famiyeh, initial tests proved inconclusive for cocaine, adding that the colour of the samples or restricted raw materials had to be deep blue to confirm the presence of cocaine, but after testing the colour turned out to be light blue, at which point the police insisted that further tests be conducted. �The further tests alone took about 13 hours instead of the normal 10minutes to be concluded,� Mr. Fameyeh stated. He told Peace FM that, prior to the further sampling and testing of chemicals, all the 14 vehicles driven by the police were nowhere to be found, and management of Kinapharma had to use their own personal vehicles to shuttle the police to and fro Spintex to conduct the test, a company they alleged was dealing in cocaine. The Public Relations Officer of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), told PEACEFM last Friday, 11th December, that tests conducted by the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) on the chemicals picked up from Kinapharma Pharmaceutical Company limited proved negative for cocaine. According to him, the chemicals, however, tested positive for Chlordiazepoxide, which is not classified as a narcotic drug under PNDCL236, 1990. Meanwhile, Kinapharma Pharmaceutical Company is demanding a formal apology from the police �for damaging the company and its management�s hard earned reputation.� Mr. Eshun Fameyeh says lawyers for the company are preparing documents for the court of law, accusing the police of leaking information to the media though initial tests for cocaine had proved inconclusive. �The company�s image has been seriously dented and we request that the truth about our exoneration be given as much prominence as the negative stories about our alleged drug bust,� he stressed.