The owner of a pharmaceutical company in Sri Lanka was arrested on Wednesday a day after a Magistrate imposed an overseas travel ban on the suspect and two other Government officials, police said.
The suspect Sugath Janaka Fernando, also known as ‘Aruna Deepthi’was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department CID, police said.
According to investigators Fernando along with two senior officials from the Health Department had imported 22,500 vials of substandard immunoglobulin with the help of doctored import documents.
A lab test on the drug later found that it was unsuitable and a potential danger for patients.
The scandal came to light after patients at two major Government hospitals complained of serious side effects which led to a thorough probe.
An overseas travel ban was imposed on the suspects since the police suspected that they were of a flight risk.
The product, said to have been manufactured by Livealth Biopharma Pvt Ltd. India was imported by a local medicine supplier called Isolez Biotech Pharma AG (Pvt) Ltd.
