A Dhaka Pure Food Court on Tuesday fined Akij Food and Beverage Limited chairman Sheikh Shamim Uddin Tk 4 lakh in a case filed on charges of unauthorised production, marketing and sale of electrolyte drinks.
The judge of the court, Alaul Akbar, however, granted Shamim bail.
The court passed the order after he apologised to the court, pleading guilty.聽
The chairman of the company, which is producing, marketing and selling Turbo Electrolyte Sports Drink, surrendered to the court following a warrant for his arrest.
The defence lawyer informed the court that the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution granted written permission to the company to produce the product after it had applied for approval.
The defence lawyer also informed the court that the company did not run any advertisements to promote the product.聽聽聽聽
In counterargument, the prosecuting officer explained to the court that it is not written permission, but rather a BSTI licence that is required for releasing products into the market.
The court imposed fines on Shamim under sections 32 (kha), 33, and 39 of the Food Safety Act 2013.
When questioned about granting written permission, BSTI media focal deputy director Reazul Haque told 抖阴精品, 鈥楾he BSTI did not provide any written permission; instead, it informed the company that it was not within its jurisdiction as the product does not fall under the BSTI鈥檚 compulsory list.鈥�
On May 14, the court issued arrest warrants against the top officials of seven companies after Dhaka South City Corporation food safety inspector Kamrul Hasan had filed five cases on charges of unauthorised production, marketing and sale of electrolyte drinks on that day.
On May 16, the court imposed fines of Tk 16 lakh each on SMC Enterprise Ltd owner Waliul Islam, and ACME Agrovet and Beverages Ltd owner Tanveer Sinha. On May 19, the court imposed Tk 12 lakh fine on Deshbandhu Food and Beverage Ltd chairman Golam Mostafa.
On May 20, the court also passed a written order directing the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority to withdraw all SMC Plus electrolyte drinks from both the market and consumers.
Other officials against whom arrest warrants were issued are Sarajit Baral, chief executive officer, Agami Limited which is Deshbandhu鈥檚 marketing and selling partner; Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, chairman and chief executive officer of Pran Dairy Ltd which produces orange and lemon flavoured Aktive+ Electrolyte Drink; Sheikh Shamim Uddin, chairman, Akij Food and Beverage Limited which produces Turbo Electrolyte Sports Drink; and Md Touhidul Islam, factory in-charge of Br眉vana Beverage Limited which produces mango flavoured Bruvana Sports+ Electrolyte Beverage.
According to the cases, the marketed electrolyte drinks have no approval from the Directorate General of Drug Administration and the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution, and used deceptive advertisements for marketing and selling of the products.
