Appeal fails for Viagra scam ringleader
An Elstree man jailed for his part in a multi-million pound impotence drug scam has failed in an appeal against his sentence.
Ashish Halai, 34, of Nicholas Road, was at the heart of a five-year plot to sell millions of fake Viagra and Cialis pills, used to treat impotence, and Propecia, used to treat hair loss.
In 2007, he was jailed for four-and-a-half years, but he appealed and the case was heard at London’s Criminal Appeal Court yesterday.
Lawyers argued that the sentence was “manifestly excessive” but Lord Justice Toulson told the court large profits were made from the operation, which he described as a “sophisticated commercial enterprise”.
Halai, described as the lynchpin of the conspiracy, had no previous convictions, but the judge said his sentence was appropriate for someone involved in “fraud on a grand scale”.
Lord Justice Toulson said crimes like these “undermine the legitimate pharmaceutical companies and also damage public confidence in medicines”.
He said: “Sometimes it can give rise to an actual risk of health problems. This enterprise was played for high stakes and high profits were realised.
“In our judgement, it merited a substantial custodial term for the main players.”
Millions of fake pills were sold on the internet to the US and other countries but some were also sold ‘legitimately’ over the counter in UK chemists on prescription to unsuspecting customers.
Investigators traced the fake pills, produced in secret factories in China and Pakistan, through distribution networks in Hong Kong, Dubai, the Bahamas and the UK.
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