Elder Dr. Samuel Amo Tobbin, Group Chairman of Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited (TPL), has revealed the reasons behind his decision to delay legal action against the former CEO of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Dr. Stephen Opuni, following the seizure of his products in 2013.
Dr. Tobbin recounted how Dr. Opuni and his team systematically moved from one of his warehouses to another, using trailers to confiscate his products for destruction.
He clarified that although only a small portion of his samples was found to be counterfeit, Dr. Opuni leveraged the situation to seize all of his products.
“Substandard was just one product, just samples, I mean just a little, [but] all my other products were termed as fake. That was when he started moving with trailers to our warehouses and hospitals to take them to burn,” He said in an interview with Bernard Avle on The Point of View on Channel One TV.
Dr Tobbin also revealed that he refrained from challenging the case in court due to Dr. Opuni’s formidable influence.
He noted that attempts by prominent figures, including former President John Dramani Mahama and National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, to intervene in the matter were disregarded.
Dr. Tobbin also attributed his reluctance to go to court to the slow pace of judicial proceedings.
“I didn’t seek legal redress because the guy [Dr Opuni] was powerful, what will you do as a businessman? You run to people who can rescue the issue. Our judiciary system see how this long the case took. I thought that let me go to some people, so I went to Asiedu Nketia, he [Dr Opuni], came to his office, and we sat there for four hours, and the guy didn’t mind us.
“I went to former President John Mahama’s house and pleaded with him to please kindly rescue the situation, but he couldn’t do it.
“In the sense that the guy was so strong. He will tell you to be quiet and not go on air, by the time you realise there are four trailers in the Western Region loading our products to the burning site. It wasn’t easy at that time.”
Furthermore, he recounted how Dr Opuni used the media to destroy his reputation and company.
“He [Opuni] was using the media platform to fight.”
