And this despite several levels of monitoring: the Centre hired regional consultants to monitor implementation, independent labs conducted pharma tests, an independent annual audit of drug procurement and distribution was conducted. All this was reported to the Bank every quarter. In addition, the Bank carried out 15 supervision missions in eight years. Every financial transaction had to pass through the Bank including the auditors’ report.

But these “collusive practices had gone undetected,” admits the Bank’s review, “and apparently were undertaken by the same players across multiple projects, they signify a risk factor that needs to be monitored closely to ensure programme integrity in other projects involving pharmaceutical procurements.”

When contacted, Ajay Asudani, lawyer for Pure Pharma said: “In the RCH case, the World Bank lifted all criminal charges against our directors and only decided to debar us for one year. We have appealed in the Indore High Court against the Government of India order blacklisting us. We are not aware of the findings of the latest World Bank review.” Nestor

Ironically, the pattern of fraud was similar: the companies colluded to win majority of contracts. In MCP, Pure Pharma won 62% of the DEC tablets contract and Nestor and Pure Pharma combined won 93 per cent and 73 per cent of the chloroquine and Combi-blister packs respectively.

While chloroquine phosphate is a common treatment for malaria, combi-blister packs contain a combination of drugs. DEC tablets treat vector-borne disease filariasis.

Their modus operandi was simple:

... contd.