Clean Chit?: Labs have cleared cough syrup, PAC told

Officials including federal secretary embezzled at least Rs167 million from the Tawana Pakistan Project.

ISLAMABAD:

The allegedly toxic Tyno cough syrup, manufactured by Reko Pharma, recently blamed for the death of some 19 people, has been cleared by drug labs – at least that is what regulatory officials told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday.

During the PAC meeting, Ministry of National Regulations and Services Secretary Imtiaz Inayat Elahi said the Central Drug Laboratory in Karachi had cleared the samples of the syrup. Also briefing the PAC, CEO of the Drug Regulatory Authority Arshad Farooq said the Drug Testing Laboratory of Punjab had also cleared the samples.

However, he said the findings had not yet been officially shared by the Punjab government. Farooq said that, since February 2011, Reko Pharma had sold 3.2 million bottles of the cough syrup and received no complaint against it, nor were any mishaps reported as a result of its consumption.

Farooq added the deceased were probably addicts and the families of the victims had refused to allow postmortem examinations to determine the actual cause of death.

Embezzlement of funds

Meanwhile, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will seek permission from its executive board to file a reference against a former federal secretary and other officials, after investigations established that they embezzled funds from a project launched to address poor nutrition among school children.

In a briefing to the PAC,  Director Operations of the anti-graft watchdog Zahir Shah said that the investigations were almost complete, and, according to their findings, former federal secretary Naeem Khan of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education and other officials embezzled at least Rs167 million from the Tawana Pakistan Project. Shah added the findings will be presented to the Executive Board to file a reference against the accused people.

In September 2002, the then government had launched the nutrition programme in around 4,000 schools, aimed at improving nutrition of female students aged between five years and 12 years by providing free milk and biscuits. However, an audit report, based on a forensic study, revealed that “the milk and biscuits were not fit for human consumption,” putting the lives of children at risk.

Shah said that Rs110 million worth of fake purchases through the embezzled funds have been found thus far. He added that, except for Naeem and TPP Director  Ehsanullah Khan, who is also a proclaimed offender, all the other accused officials were under custody.

The audit report stated that samples of the milk were sent to the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research laboratory following complaints by teachers from 23 schools about the poor quality of milk distributed under the programme. “The tests revealed that both the milk and the biscuits were not fit for human consumption … the children were exposed to the risk of malnutrition and related public hazards,” the audit report said.

The milk was procured from Vita Pakistan, EM5 and Maza Pakistan. The audit report maintained that the companies were paid for supplying substandard food items, rather than being penalised for it.

During the meeting, an audit official brought the attention of the PAC towards Rs10 million spent by the administration of Tando Allahyar district, Sindh, in 2010-2011, presenting a report which showed that the administration had utilised the amount to purchase medicines for the people who were displaced by the 2010 floods and were camped in the district.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2012.