Fraud office unfair in handing over seized generics papers
The Serious Fraud Office acted unfairly in handing over papers seized from Kent Pharmaceuticals to the Department of Health, the High Court has ruled.
The documents were seized during raids on the offices of Kent Pharmaceuticals
and the homes of some of its executives in April 2002. The raids were
part of an investigation by the SFO into suspected fraud related to the
pricing of generic warfarin
and penicillin products (PJ, 13 April 2002,
p487). The investigation, which involves five other companies, is still
continuing but no charges have yet been brought.
Mr Justice Maurice Kay and Mr Justice Mackay ruled on 17 December 2003
that the raids themselves were lawful. However, the SFO was unfair to
Kent by failing to give advance notice of its intention to hand over
some of the documents to the DoH or to give a reasonable time to take
court action, if the company wanted. After the ruling, Kent said that
the action against it appeared to have been “motivated by political
expediency”. |
