APCC treasurer Phani Sharma's son in global drug scandal
NETV Bureau
Guwahati, August 20
http://www.netvindia.com/news.html
The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee treasurer Dr Phani Sharm is being drawn into a major controversy with his son being accused fraud and warrant issued for his arrest in London. Dr. Tanmoy Sharma, who was a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, has been accused of deceiving the National Health Service as well as global drug multinationals. According to one of the leading London dailies The observer, Dr. Tanmoy Sharma not only lied about his academic credentials but was also instrumental in being the ring leader of a global research fraud in the pharmaceutical sector involving theft of pharmaceutical drug on Schizophrenic patients. The Observer reports that Dr. Sharma was further investing all money generated from the fraud into the film business run by his family in India. Interestingly, Dr. Sharma's father as well as his sister-in-law are both senior office bearers of in the APCC. His sister-in-law and high-profile spokespersons of the ruling Congress party in Asom has been frequently using facilities provided by her brother-in-law in London to produce and telecast high-cost serials for Doordarshan.
Dr Tonmoy Sharma went to London for teaching medical science nearly a decade ago. However, now he is one of the most wanted criminals of the United Kingdom. According to The Observer, Dr. Tonmoy Sharma, who was a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, has been accused of deceiving the NHS and some of the world's largest drug firms, and lying about his academic credentials. Sharma is being accused by the pharmaceutical companies' trade body of taking part in wide-ranging research fraud involving tests of powerful drugs on schizophrenic patients. The high-profile dispute is to come before the General Medical Council in September. The charges of deception being were brought against Sharma by the government health watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the newspaper said. He failed to answer a summons to appear at Bow Street court in London last February, and a warrant was later issued for his arrest. Meanwhile, his father and APCC treasurer Dr. Phani Sharma has refuted all the charges against his son and said that his son has become a victim of the mentality of the other countries to suppress the talents of Indian people. He also pointed the needle of suspicion towards one Bipul Phukan, who he said was behind the entire episode.
The Observer further reported that Dr. Sharma has invested the entire amount generated from the fraud into the film business run by his family in India. While his father is the owner of a cinema hall in Guwahati, his sister Sanchayita is a documentary film maker. His sister-in-law Bobita Sharma, who also is in the show bizz, is the chairperson of the Assam Film Development Corporation and is also the spokesperson of the APCC. Though shooting in the foreign countries is an expensive affair, she is shooting television serials in London for the last several years, reportedly using facilities provided by her brother-in-law. However, despite the controversy, the APCC has clarified that it would not take any action neither against Dr. Phani Sharma nor against his daughter-in-law.
Significantly, Dr. Tanmoy Sharma told NE TV over phone from the United States that the drug firms had targeted him as 'a scapegoat' to cover their own failures and protect people in the industry. He further informed that he was thinking over moving the court against The Observer for publishing the news item.
As per the Observer report, the drug firms belong to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry will ask the GMC to find him guilty of professional misconduct. The association will also claim Sharma used the same patients as subjects for a number of different studies without telling the drug firms, which had each paid him six-figure sums for what they believed to be unique research. Among the allegations that surfaced in the High Court before the case ended was a claim that Sharma attempted to get data changed in one study to show that the drug risperidone worked better against schizophrenia than rival conventional treatments, the newspaper said.
ยท Professor in drug study fraud claim
o Observer, Sunday May 28 2006
o Antony Barnett, investigations editor
o http://browse.guardian.co.uk/search?site=Observer&search=tonmoy
A professor who taught at one of Britain's most prestigious medical institutes while appearing regularly as an expert on the BBC online, has been accused of being a fraud and has a warrant out for his arrest. Tonmoy Sharma, who was a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, is accused of deceiving the NHS and some of the world's largest drug firms, and lying (...)
(...) of being a fraud and has a warrant out for his arrest. Tonmoy Sharma, who was a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry (...)
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