Medicine scam suspects appear in court

Seven pharmaceutical company co-owners, including two employees of the Free State Department of Health, have been granted bail in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court. They are accused of fraud, corruption and racketeering to the tune of R12 million, which they allegedly received from Health Department tenders in a wrongful manner. The seven are Robert and Elizabeth Olivier, Mohammed Hoosen from Bloemfontein, Lesley van der Walt and Arther Tannous from Johannesburg and Eric and Jo-Anne Page from Durban. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Tlali Tlali, said it was suspected that the "syndicate" was in operation from 2002 until 2007. He said it was suspected that inflated prices were tendered for medicine supplies and accepted without question. The case has been postponed to... [read full story]