Updated: 10/16/2013 13:41 | By Channel NewsAsia
Two men jailed for selling fake medicine that caused death
SINGAPORE: Two men have been sentenced to four and five months' jail respectively for selling fake medicine that caused death.
Fifty-year-old Cheong Wai Mun and his brother-in-law 65-year-old Lim Chung Hee were caught in December 2011 when they sold a box with 140 capsules of the fake medicine to an undercover officer from the Health Sciences Authority.
The authorities mounted the sting operation as they investigated the death of a Tan Tock Seng Hospital patient who had suffered adverse reaction to the drug in March 2011.
Both Cheong and Lim faced nine charges for selling drug restricted under the Poisons Act, and doing so without a licence.
Further investigations revealed that Lim had hired Cheong to sell the drug as traditional Chinese medicine for a fixed salary of S$1,000.
The court was told that Lim had obtained the capsules from an unidentified Malaysian man and passed them to Cheong to assemble and sell.
Lim received between S$3,000 and S$5,000 from the sale each month.
Court documents also showed that Lim had been selling the fake medicine for about 20 years.
He used to operate a shop at Sultan Plaza.
Due to his higher culpability, Lim was given five months' jail while Cheong was handed a four-month jail term.
- CNA/fa
