The founder of the SNF chemistry group, which a year ago offered his employees with covid-19 chloroquine tablets, will appear before the Saint-Etienne criminal court in June, sources learned on Sunday. concordant.
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"
René Pich, 80, founder of the Saint-Etienne group SNF, a world specialist in water treatment, will have to answer on June 3 for "
illegal exercise of the profession of pharmacist, illegal exercise of the profession of doctor, illegal acquisition, importation into contraband and possession of poisonous substances
”.
A preliminary investigation was opened in early April 2020 after a report from the Loire labor inspectorate, triggered by a note from Mr. Pich informing SNF management of the acquisition of chloroquine phosphate tablets.
In this communication, dated March 18, the manager invited employees affected by covid-19 to ask management for the delivery of this product, while telling them the dosage to follow until the disappearance of symptoms after four at seven days, ten at most.
The investigation established that the manufacturer had built up a stock of 1,200 tablets, purchased in India.
"
Substances subject to medical prescription
", recalls the accusation, intended, on the "
own prescription
" of Mr. Pich, to his employees.
“
I am 79 years old and have diabetes.
My chance of dying from Covid-19 is over 20%.
We have around ten (perhaps more) employees in the company with serious pathologies.
The precautionary principle obliges me to find in these periods of controversy the means to survive
”, had justified René Pich, assuring that a part of these platelets had been“
given to hospitals
”, with the indication of their origin.
Read also: Chloroquine: no proof of effectiveness after four months of controversy
The group of 6,500 employees, including 1,400 in France, had for its part affirmed that SNF had "
no link of any kind whatsoever with this file
".
"
The complaint is aimed individually at its founder René Pich and not the company itself,
" said the company, which had defended itself from any "
purchase
" of chloroquine and not having "
never received it, nor from René Pich. , nor of anyone
”.