[ad_1]
The Executive Director of the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) and the Chief of Legal Affairs are under investigation for allegedly taking bribes from the manufacturer of COA FS.
Professor Samuel Ato Duncan told investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni that the head of Legal Affairs, Cynthia Dapaah Ntow, demanded that he pay $ 100,000 to be given the green light to continue selling their product.
In a telephone conversation, Ms. Dapaah Ntow said that she was taking the money on behalf of the Authority’s executive director, Delese Mimi Darko.
“On April 8, around 10 am, I received a call to go immediately to the FDA offices because there was something the FDA attorney wanted to discuss with me… before that, I had talked to her about what I had seen something happening so I needed your support. Because I felt that being a lawyer, she will be the best person to see the plan and help us if there is something.
“She said that I should go, but I told her it was not good to be able to come on Monday, but she said that if I could go that day it would be good. Then I asked my driver to take me to Accra, ”he said.
According to him, although they were supposed to meet at the FDA, she called to say that they should meet at GIMPA’s door. Once they met there, she took him to a nearby restaurant.
Ms. Dapaah-Ntow asked him what help he needed and he told her about a plan by some people who were trying to destroy their brand and he needed his help to prevent that from happening.
She demanded the documents he had about the product that he promised to bring her.
“Then he asked, ‘How much are you willing to give Mrs. [the FDA CEO]? It was then that I was alarmed and investigated more because I saw everything as a ruse and wanted to go on and see where it was going to end, ”he told the investigative reporter.
He said that although he knows Ms. Mimi Darko, they were not on those terms, but since that was the demand he was allegedly making through Ms. Dapaah-Ntow, he obeyed and was willing to give them ¢ 200,000.
“She said that ¢ 200,000 is too small, make it $ 100,000. So I told her that I will make it ¢ 500,000 but she asked, ‘How much do you give me too?’ Then I said ¢ 100,000. She asked where the money is. I told him I don’t have it now because I didn’t know I was going to pay money to be able to give him a check, ”said Professor Ato Duncan.
According to him, she turned him down demanding cash instead, so she said she had to go back to Cape Coast to get ¢ 600,000.
When he returned, Ms. Dapaah-Ntow handed him a letter suspending his product from the market and the FDA explaining the reason for its action.
Professor Duncan said that before he left, the head of legal affairs asked him about the money. After he told her he was in his car, she ordered them to meet at a nearby hotel.
“We drove to the place and she led us to an unpaved road and we stopped in the bush and I myself collected the money and put it in her VW car booth. She asked and I told her that it is ¢ 500,000 and this is ¢ 100,000 and she said that it is fine, listen, ”he said.
The money was put in the booth of a
He said he was in the company of his driver and his daughter and they left Mrs. Daapah-Ntow there.
While handing over the money to the FDA’s chief legal officer, a short video and photograph were taken.
At FDA headquarters, in the parking lot of the chief of legal affairs, who allegedly took the money, a VW saloon was parked at the time of the investigative journalist’s visit.
Samuel Ato said that later he called him to come back for his money.
Below is the transcript of the telephone conversation between them.
You are a business person and you did it deliberately. I am very sure of that.
-No. No. Listen.
I’ve dealt with all kinds of clients so I know …
-Listen to me. I am not so. Seriously, I’m not like that.
Prof.
-Yes?
All the discussion we had, there was none, there was nothing about 100,000 CDs. There has been no agreement on the 100,000 cedis. It’s just that. There was never a mention of 100,000 cedis.
“Oh, that was …
I am a lawyer and I am a cunning lawyer. I do serious practice.
-You know…?
All the tricks in the books I know, but I’m not interested … so I don’t want to get involved in this …
“There were no tricks in this.” First I mentioned ¢ 200,000.
For her…!
-For her. And you said it’s small, so I said it was fine, so let me … So when I said $ 100,000, I mean the 500,000 cedi figure. So you asked, how much do I give you? And I said 100,000 CDs but you didn’t hear me …
No teacher! You never said that. You said the same. Prof., I am a lawyer, I come across … I meet my own clients. I know them [laughs] so what you’re doing, is …
“Am I not your client?”
No, you are not my client. It’s an FDA … You’re not my client.
Background
COA FS as an immune booster
COA FS is known among its consumers as an immune booster and became very popular during the Covid-19 lockdown period around the world. But the founder’s main goal was and continues to be to find treatment for HIV / AIDS.
According to Professor Ato Duncan, researchers at the University of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa conducted further studies on COA FS and said that it had great potential that needed more attention in the area of research and development.
Due to difficulties in getting the authorities to support him, he was recommended to register COA FS as an immune booster.
He claims that a Chinese national bought COA FS and brought it to his country when there was a 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak and saved some people. However, this claim remains controversial.
In March of this year, the director of the Noguchi Memorial Center for Medical Research, Professor Abraham Kwabena Anang, said that COA FS as an immune booster could prove useful in managing Covid-19 until a cure is found.
On March 24 this year, a link to the story about Professor Anang’s COA FS comment was posted on a WhatsApp platform, which had some senior officials from Ghana’s regulatory institutions. The institutions reacted differently to the story demanding answers from Chief Noguchi.
The next day, March 26, FDA officials were at the COA FS manufacturing facility in the Central Region to collect samples for testing.
“When he was here, it was clear that their agenda was to find fault because they needed solid answers in order to pin down the COA FS,” said Professor Ato Duncan.
FDA tests COA FS efficacy
At FDA Headquarters, Head of Laboratories Eric Karikari Boateng took Manasseh Awuni through the process of how COA FS testing was performed on factory and market samples.
He told the journalist that the Authority conducted two tests on Coa FS. The first was on samples that the FDA collected from the market on March 19, and the second test was on samples that the FDA collected from the COA FS factory on March 26.
It entered the FDA records on March 30 and the results were ready on April 7. The report is dated April 8.
According to Mr. Karikari Boateng, the first test that was performed on samples collected from the market did not establish the presence of Ecoli in the COA FS.
The FDA, based on the testing and the factory visit, suspended Coa FS’s production license and ordered the company to recall its products.
The visit to the company’s Cape Coast office saw hundreds of boxes of the product.
The letter suspending COA FS production was dated March 31. Among others, it was stated that the reason for the suspension was that the product contained Ecoli.
Meanwhile, the results establishing the presence of ecoli in the product are dated April 8, 2020.
As of this date, it means that the letter was written and the reasons were stated even before the results of the test establishing the presence of ecoli were ready.
Based on the tests and the factory visit, the FDA suspended the product’s production license and ordered the company to recall its products.
The visit to the company’s Cape Coast office saw hundreds of boxes of the product.
“Since the FDA came out, we are in a bind because the majority walk demanding it. A woman came here saying that her mother was sick with a stroke and when she started with the COA she was up, so she has been pushing us to try to help her up. So we’re waiting to hear from the FDA if the ban will be lifted soon, ”said one of the vendors.
In a letter dated August 7, 2020, the FDA lifted the suspension of COA FS manufacturing after the company addressed what it said were the most critical deficiencies identified.
In another letter dated September 1, 2020, the FDA directed COA FS to limit the indication of the product to general wellness.
