Distributing and selling sub-standard sanitisers has cost
Prochem (Pvt) Limited a $3 000 fine, even though the company said it had made
the batch before standards were set with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company initially appeared in court on Saturday
represented by its head of sales and marketing John Nhari, charged for
manufacturing non-standard personal protective material. After conviction the
trial was adjourned to yesterday for sentence.
Magistrate Mrs Barbra Mateko yesterday fined the company $3
000 to be paid on or before June 30, and warned that failure to pay would see
the company’s property attached to raise the sum.
In mitigation, the company submitted that sanitisers were
already in stock before the World Health Organization set new standards to
ensure the product would kill the Covid-19 virus.
“The company had no intention to commit the offence as some
of the sanitisers had already been manufactured before set standards were announced.
The company also did not benefit from the offence since the sanitisers were
confiscated by the police and the ones already on the market were recalled,”
the company’s lawyer said.
Giving her reasons for the fine, Mrs Mateko said Prochem
was supposed to halt the manufacturing of the sanitisers and proceed after
meeting all the requirements.
Prosecutor Mr Desire Chidanire told the court that on 28
April at around 2pm, detectives from the CID anti-smuggling and
anti-counterfeit unit received information that the company was manufacturing
non-standard hand sanitisers.
Detectives proceeded to Prochem, who operate from Glen
Eagles Road in Harare and seized 168x100ml bottles of a branded hand sanitiser
before submitting samples the next day to the Standards Association of Zimbabwe
for test. The hand sanitisers failed to meet the required minimum standard. Herald
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