Africa-Press – Eswatini. There is a plot by a syndicate to kick Swazi Pharm Wholesalers (Pty) Ltd out of the pharmaceutical business.
Swazi Pharm also believes there is a conspiracy trying to remove them from being a medical supplier to government, and they claim a syndicate is allegedly behind the recent impounding of one of their trucks in South Africa and the subsequent arrest of its driver.
The fully-loaded truck belonging to Swazi Pharm, which was impounded at the Ngwenya Border Gate about eight months ago, was released this week.
The truck was impounded on April 13, carrying medical devices worth E1.5 million, which were being transported from Eswatini to South Africa. It was released on December 18, after a hard, long fight by Swazi Pharm Wholesalers (PTY) Ltd. Information gathered is that someone from the country informed the South African officials to stop the truck after allegedly making false allegations that it was carrying medical drugs.
Further investigations by this newspaper reveal that a powerful syndicate, comprising top government officials, some politicians and business people have gone to extremes in trying to slander the Swazi Pharm brand so that the company can lose credibility to force it to lose business.
Loses
Their belief was that once Swazi Pharm loses business, they will then take over and supply pharmaceuticals to government.
During their plot, the syndicate resolved to make false allegations about Swazi Pharm, by accusing the company to be one of the reasons the health system was in crisis in this country.
It has been uncovered that at first when they started the attack, they were not aware that Kareem Ashraf was the director of the company.
After the campaign to damage Swazi Pharm’s name, they discovered that the company was now under new leadership of Ashraf.
Knowing that Ashraf was also a powerful man with a strong backing in this country, the syndicate decided to attack Ashraf in his personal capacity through social media platforms, where they cannot be challenged.
“This whole thing is being created. It is false allegations trying to spoil my name and my company.
“I know everything. I am just disappointed on how this matter has been reported. “It seems you people are failing to do your job.
“You allow people to make fake news and you publish it damaging our names without a reason,” confirmed Ashraf.
In trying to clear his name, Ashraf has taken the matter to court explaining in one of the court papers that his company was not responsible for the health crisis in the country.
“I took over full directorship of Swazi Pharm in June this year,” he said in his court papers wondering how the current health crisis could be his fault when he took over the company about six months ago. The country has been in a health crisis for over 20 years.
Influence
This syndicate tried to influence top government officials to hire an audit company to investigate the health crisis. However, this forensic investigation is purported to have discovered damning information and allegations on some people and the reasons for the health crisis.
Ashraf learned the news from social media that his name or his company were in that report, but he did not know what it was saying about him exactly. He asked for a copy of the report from government but they refused to release it.
He then went to court to force government to release a copy of that report so that he can answer wherever his name is touched. Government refused to release the report in court.
A report that is assumed to be containing crucial information and facts on the reasons why there is a drug shortage in the country.
Meanwhile, when the truck was impounded, there was nothing illegal being transported or carried by it. There were no medical drugs being transported by the truck.
There were neither any stolen goods, medical drugs nor stolen equipment in the truck. There was nothing consumable being carried by the truck.
There were no tablets, nothing eatable and it was just gadgets, equipment used for COVID-19 testing for example.
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