An accountant accused of a multi-million pound counterfeit-medicines plot - Europe's biggest ever - has told a jury he was simply helping his brother and did not know the drugs were Chinese-manufactured fakes.
Ian Gillespie, 58, of The Green, Marsh Baldon, Oxford told Croydon Crown Court in the fourth month of his trial: "He said he had the products tested and they were fine. I believed him."
Charges were brought following a two-year investigation by the Medicines and Health Care products Regulatory Agency, part of the Department of Health into Consolidated Medical Supplies Ltd. (CMS).
Medicine watchdogs ordered a Class One recall of all suspected drugs - taken by heart and cancer patients and the mentally ill - resulting in shelves cleared in pharmacies all over the country.
Five men, including Ian's brother Peter Gillespie, 64, of Carey Close, Windsor are accused of being motivated by "pure greed" when selling three types of expensive fake drugs - with approximately 100,000 doses ending up in patients hands.
Ian Gillespie, a parochial church councillor and deputy church warden, worked for a firm of chartered accountants before troubleshooting for two accountancy employment agencies.
He was his brother's accountant at Staines-based Discpharm until it folded and assisted his sibling in setting-up CMS.
"Peter asked me if I would like to come along and help. He did not promise me I would be paid and as I was unemployed at the time I went along," Ian told the court.
His role was limited to cleaning and decorating the premises, he claimed, and did not get involved in the day-to-day running of the company.
"I believed Peter was the buying agent, the consultant for the company."
Ian guaranteed a £50,000 loan for CMS to buy their old Discpharm machinery, which was used to re-package the bogus Chinese drugs, but the defendant insisted this did not put him at the centre of the plot.
"I did not want to sign it at first. It was a lot of money," Ian told the jury. "Peter told me if I did not everyone there would not have a job so with great reluctance I signed."
Throughout the period of the alleged conspiracy Ian was employed by Hillingdon Primary Healthcare Trust and he insisted the accountancy services he provided via his company ACO Consultants Ltd. took up the bulk of his time.
"I still had a little contact. I was doing the VAT returns for CMS," he said. "I thought it was the same operation as at Discpharm."
He also agreed to do "four or five" deliveries for the company.
"I hired a van, loaded the pallets on, and drove it to wherever it was going to go," Ian told the court. "Peter asked me to do it. I did not think it was strange."
After a co-defendant resigned his CMS directorship Ian did become a director of the company for a short time, simply to help his bankrupt brother, he claimed.
"I wanted to assist in keeping the company alive and assist my brother. I believed what he said."
He denied knowing the drugs only had a 70% strength. "I would never have been a director if I had known that."
His brother Peter told the jury he was devastated to discover during a meeting on the banks of Lake Geneva the supplies from his French contact were counterfeit.
"I had never heard that until I heard it in this courtroom," insisted Ian. "I love my brother, but I am very angry and upset."
The charges relate to 'Casodex', used to treat advanced prostate cancer, 'Plavix', a drug prescribed to prevent blood clots and prevent heart attacks for angina patients and 'Zyprexa' a anti-psychotic drug prescribed to schizophrenic and bipolar patients.
The other defendants are: Ian Harding, 58, of Lower Westwood, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire; James Quinn, 69, of Gillespie House, Holloway Drive, Virginia Water, Surrey and Richard Kemp, 61, of School Lane, Y Waen, Flint Mountain, Clwyd.
All five have pleaded not guilty that between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007, they conspired together and with others to defraud pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacists, the public and holders of Intellectual Property Rights in pharmaceuticals by dishonestly distributing for gain counterfeit medicines.
They also deny two counts each of selling or supplying the three drugs without authorisation and selling or supplying counterfeit goods, namely the three medicines, between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.
Peter Gillespie alone denies one count of breaching a company director disqualification order between July, 2005 and June, 2007, following his bankruptcy.
The drugs were manufactured by the notorious Chinese pharmaceutical counterfeiter Lu Xu aka Kevin Xu, currently serving a prison sentence for a similar scam in the United States.
His bogus drugs were imported via Singapore and Belgium before being ferried and driven into the U.K and distributed by the five defendants, allege the prosecution.
Trial continues............
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