The Group Chairman and founder of Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited (TBL), Dr. Samuel Amo Tobbin, has expressed that his vindication in the matter regarding allegations of fake drug imports dating back to 2013 takes precedence over the judgment debt awarded to him by the court.

The High Court on July 29, 2024, ordered the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to pay a total of GH¢93,905,760.79 million to Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Ltd for the unlawful destruction of unexpired drugs.

In 2014, the FDA confiscated pharmaceutical products imported to Ghana by TBL on grounds that the products were unwholesome.

In 2019, Tobinco sued the FDA and asked the court to award costs against the FDA and declare its actions as unlawful.

The longstanding dispute has since reached a conclusion after the court declared that the wanton destruction of Tobinco’s unexpired products was unlawful as the FDA did not obtain any order from the court before taking action.

The court, presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, declared that “the unlawful lockup of Tobinco’s warehouses by the FDA and bad media publicity by the FDA resulted in the massive expiration of Tobinco’s products between June 2014 and August 2015.”

Speaking on the development in an interview on Accra-based Channel One TV, Dr. Samuel Amo Tobbin said the verdict provides him with the necessary vindication particularly for his business, family, and personal life.

He stressed that this vindication is of greater value to him than the judgment debt reward from the court.

“If the court agreed and accepted the damages that we submitted to the court, the total damage we demanded from the court was $18 million to $20 million. This is what the court gave us [GH¢93,905,760.79 million]. The joy I have in me is my name and on the internet, we have bad names and bad reputations that I imported fake drugs and all that, which is on the internet now. And it’s my prayer that this good thing [vindication] will clean the past.

“So that tomorrow, my descendants will not come and somebody will tell them that your daddy imported fake products and all that.,” the Tobinco Group Chairman said.

Touching on the importance of his vindication compared to the judgment debt reward, Dr Tobbin said, “More important, if not, I would have gone to the Appeal Court and appealed for what they have issued to us. I said $18 million to $20 million, and calculate by GH¢15.5 [dollar rate], plus interests."

“What happened was that when they calculated, they gave us GH¢24 million and an additional 500 and something thousand and 60 something thousand [GH¢24,003,157.20, GH¢511,414.35 for demurrage and GH¢67,300 for the Bonded warehouse]. This is what the court offered us. This one that the court offered us, we had to work it out 8 years ago. So, the 8 years ago interest is what has increased to 90 something [GH¢93,905,760.79],” he recounted.

MA/AE

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