Bribery Enabled Sell of Indian Cough Syrup that Killed 65 Children, Alleges Uzbekistan

A bribe of USD 33,000 was paid by the distributors of a contaminated Indian cough syrup that killed 65 children in Uzbekistan. This bribe was paid to local officials to skip mandatory testing, alleged Uzbek state prosecutors during a trial on Wednesday.

Uzbekistan authorities have put 21 people on trial in this case. They include 20 Uzbek nationals and one Indian.

An Indian and two Uzbeks are executives of Quramax Medical, a company that sold medicines produced by India’s Marion Biotech, in Uzbekistan.

According to Uzbek state prosecutor Saidkarim Akilov, Quramax CEO Singh Raghvendra Pratap allegedly paid officials at the state centre for expertise and standardisation of medicinal products a bribe worth USD 33,000 so that they would skip a mandatory inspection of its products.

The State prosecutors also added that Quramax had imported Marion Biotech medicines at an inflated price via two Singapore-based intermediary companies, which prompted tax evasion charges.