The All Kerala Chemists and Druggists of Association (AKCDA) will soon file a petition in the Supreme Court requesting an early disposal of a case of misappropriation of funds allegedly committed by the former president of AIOCD during his tenure in 2007. The president was simultaneously holding the presidentship of AKCDA also.
According to sources from the AKCDA, if the case is prolonged in the court, it would help the respondents escape from the case and bring a heavy financial loss to the organization.
They said the high court of Kerala, in early this year, quashed a case of financial fraud filed by four AKCDA members against the former president of AIOCD (also AKCDA), N Mohanakurup and his secretary T Ravindran who had misled the court that the case had been settled out of court between the parties and the respondents and not wanted to pursue the case.
Ramesh Kammathu, the Kerala co-coordinator of AIOCD and Antony Therian, the secretary of AKCDA told Pharmabiz that the accused persons produced fake records as proofs and their henchmen as office-bearers in the court in order to escape from the case. Based on these records and evidences, the court had quashed the proceedings of the case.
The allegation was that between 2007 and 2008, the accused persons with an intention to cheat the AKCDA had allegedly misappropriated an amount of <span class="WebRupee">Rs.</span>80 lakh of the association by falsifying the accounts. Against this criminal breach of trust by the office-bearers, four members of the association had lodged a complaint with the city police commissioner of Ernakulam and the central police station in the city had done the investigation.
But when the dispute was brought to the notice of the High Court, according to Antony Therian and R Kammathu, the former president of AIOCD and AKCDA, Mohanakurup had misrepresented the court with fabricated records and proofs referring that with the intervention of AIOCD members the case was settled between the complainants and the petitioners.
But unsatisfied by the decision of the court, some members of AKCDA approached the supreme court for further proceedings of the case and in April this year the apex court sent notices to the respondents, Mohanakurup and two others, calling up on them to appear before the court. Following the intervention of supreme court, the present office-bearers of AKCDA have decided to file one petition to the court praying a speedy disposal of the case as the pending of the case may serve loop-holes to the accused to escape from the case and the association will have to lose a big amount due to its account.
While speaking to Pharmabiz, Antony Therian said Mohanakurup and his associates had floated a private company and approached the manufacturers of pharmaceutical companies to get their company appointed as the sole distributor of their products in Kerala. He said they had collected donations from several companies for AKCDA and opened accounts with two banks, one in Palakkadu and other in Ernakulam. The city police in Ernakulam had investigated the case and got the proof of it, Therian said.