"I Have Really Been Screwed" Says Businessman In Bogus Medication Scandal

A successful businessman, who denies knowingly funding the mass importation of fake life-saving drugs, told a jury he has "hate" for the alleged co-conspirator who talked him into the deal.

"I feel as if I have really been screwed by him," Richard Kemp, 61, of School Lane, Y Waen, Flint Mountain, Clwyd told Croydon Crown Court.

The ex-boss of pharmaceutical wholesaler Kemco claims he was used by alleged ringleader Peter Gillespie, 64, of Carey Close, Windsor, Berkshire.

"Do you want me to say I hate the man for what he has done?" asked Kemp from the witness box. "Because that is how I feel inside."

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 and half of the 73,000 fake packs recalled

The other defendants are: Peter's brother Ian Gillespie, 58, of The Green, Marsh Baldon, Oxford; Ian Harding, 58, of Lower Westwood, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire and James Quinn, 69, of Gillespie House, Holloway Drive, Virginia Water, Surrey.

"I am very unhappy with the way he has used my name on the documents," Kemp told the jury. "I am annoyed and have been used."

After twenty-five years of trading Kemco - which enjoyed a £4-£5m annual turnover - was shut down by the Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency, part of the Department of Health.

Kemp funded Basingstoke-based Consolidated Medical Supplies (CMS) and agreed to bankroll the purchase of Zyprexa tablets - an anti-psychotic drug - at a cost of 400,000 Euros.

He drove Peter Gillespie in his delivery van to a warehouse near Brussels Airport, Belgium to collect the stock - knowing they were Chinese-manufactured fakes, insist the prosecution

"I did not know it was coming from Singapore," claimed Kemp. "I trusted Peter and assumed everything was in order. Everything just happened and I got dragged along.

"This was obviously not the normal deal that you would expect. It was spur of the moment and I should have done more due diligence."

The 'Singapore Airlines Cargo' stickers on the boxes should have rang alarm bells, say the prosecution, but Kemp said: "I did not notice the stickers, I was more interested in the stock."

Kemp immediately pulled out of the deal because the stock was water-damaged, but the prosecution say the trip proves the defendant knew bogus drugs were being imported and would continue to be imported.

"I believed Peter Gillespie did the right things and this stock was coming from a licenced wholesalers. I would not have gone into business with him otherwise."

Another red-flag, say the prosecution, was Kemp's knowledge the source of the medication was Mauritius-based Multiscope Trading Ltd.

"I thought it was an off-shore office. I did not think the stock came from Mauritius," he insisted.

Kemp maintains he believed all the drugs were French-manufactured and would be repackaged for the UK market by CMS.

"Maybe it was the trip to Belgium I was looking forward to."

Approximately 100,000 doses of fake medication ended up in the hands of patients.

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.

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.