As part of its investigation into the alleged corrupt practices of some of the office-bearers of the All Kerala Chemists and Druggists Association (AKCDA) who have allegedly accumulated crore of rupees by arm-twisting the pharma companies, the Kerala government conducted a raid at the AKCDA office in Ernakulam and is said to have seized several incriminating documents.

State drug department officials said that a team of officials headed by assistant drug controller Ravindran raided the AKCDA office in Ernakulam on December 3 and seized several incriminating documents regarding the illegal transactions of money with the pharma companies. As per the seized documents, the AKCDA has collected a whopping Rs 30 lakh from the pharma companies in a month alone as product information certificate (PIC).

The collection of PIC has been made illegal by the state government which is framing a law to make both collecting and giving PIC a punishable offence. The state government had announced that collecting of PIC will tantamount to a parallel set up of collecting fees for giving license which is primarily the duty of the government.

Confirming the raid and seizure of incriminating documents, state drug controller (in-charge) MP George said that the drug department has raided and seized several documents from AKCDA office in Ernakulam which will give new direction to the on-going investigation into the corrupt practices of some of the AKCDA officials. The raiding team has also seized documents showing that the AKCDA had directed the pharma companies not to supply medicines to Neeti stores and Maveli stores which are semi-government bodies which sell essential products, including medicines, to the common man at reasonably low prices.

The Kerala government had already begun investigation into the case and the 6-member subject committee, constituted by the government, had held its first hearing on November 21 in Thiruvananthapuram. The second hearing of the committee, which included Sunil Kumar MLA who raised the issue, will be held on December 5.

It may be recalled that there was revolt in the AKCDA against some of its office-bearers including its president AN Mohan, secretary Ravindran and treasurer Sayed and a section of the members had formed a 'corrective force' inside the AKCDA to fight corruption. The major issue is the collection of PIC which, the corrective force members say, is being used as a tool to arm-twist the pharma companies for favours both in cash and kind.