Brazil police raid pharmaceutical firm amid Senate vaccine probe

Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals

17/09/2021 13:46

SAO PAULO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The Brazilian federal police
raided the offices of Precisa Medicamentos, a Brazil-based
pharmaceutical company, on Friday as part of a probe into
potential irregularities in procuring COVID-19 vaccines from
India's Bharat Biotech, according to a statement from the
senators handling the investigation.
    The raid was authorized by Supreme Court Justice Dias
Toffoli. Precisa, who used to represent Bharat in Brazil before
the allegations surfaced, on Friday denied wrongdoing and said
it is cooperating with the high-profile Senate probe.
    The raids follow evidence raised by a Senate inquiry probing
the federal government's plan to purchase 20 million doses of
the Covaxin vaccine made by Bharat.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2OI1F5 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS0N2MJ02Z 
    The contract was signed in February but later suspended.
 L2N2OE1H2 
    "The Senate inquiry sought in every way to obtain
information from the company and the Health Ministry, with no
success," according to a note sent by the senators regarding the
federal police operation. "Because of this, it was necessary to
use this legal instrument."
    Precisa pushed back, saying on Friday that the company has
submitted documents to the senators handling the probe. It also
said three company representatives gave testimony before the
Senate inquiry committee.

 (Reporting by Eduardo Simões
Writing by Ana Mano
Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
 ((ana.mano@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +55-11-5644-7704; Mob:
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