Materia Medica Malaysiana

Property firm fined over health product

Kota Kinabalu: A director representing a company primarily dealing in landed property was fined RM5,000 or three months' jail for possession of six cartons of an unregistered health product for sale.
"Carasinar Sdn Bhd is a company registered under the Companies Commission of Malaysia 'to purchase or acquire for investments, lands, houses, buildings, plantations and other property'.
"It has no Health Ministry authorisation in the supply of health products," submitted Prosecuting Officer, Joseph Oyol Modili, from the Health Department's (Pharmacy) enforcement division.
Pressing for a deterrent sentence, "to send a strong message to other similar business establishments", he stressed on the use of unregistered products as posing a health risk to the general public.
"As such, the public needs to be protected from such establishments that have no respect for law, public health and wellbeing."
He also impressed on the court that possession for sale of unregistered products under the Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations 1984, under the Sale of Drugs Act 1952 is an emerging problem in the State.
According to the facts of the case, a pharmacy enforcement team led by Dzafarullah Daud inspected a consignment at a shipping and forwarding agency, Koh Han Ming, in Kolombong on May 8, 2003 at 11.25am.
In the presence of one Koh Tze Chean, the team found 696 boxes of 'Simei Antiseptic Cream' which were later confirmed to have no registration record under the Sale of Drugs Act as required under the Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations.
During mitigation, the director who pleaded for leniency told the court that the company was fined RM6,000 in Kuala Lumpur for a similar offence earlier, when one such consignment they were expecting from Taiwan was intercepted there.
"Unfortunately, it was too late for us to stop this particular consignment which was by then, already on its way here. We do not want to repeat the offence," he explained.
Nevertheless, Sessions Judge Ravinthran Paramaguru, in imposing the fine, said he viewed the offence as very serious, "that may not just cause people to become sick but maybe even paralysis."