Guinness Nigeria Plc has decided to withdraw and discontinue the suit it filed against the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, challenging the N1 billion fine imposed upon it by the agency last November.
In a statement released by Okey Nwachukwu on Thursday, it disclosed that following the withdrawal of the suit presided over by Justice W. Animahun of Lagos State High Court, Guinness has also paid the sum of N11.4 million to NAFDAC being payment for administrative and service charges.
Nwachukwu continued in the statement that the decision of Guinness to discontinue the law suit is in pursuance to a “letter dated 15th February 2016 from NAFDAC to the company which was stated to supersede the decisions contained in the Agency’s letter dated 9th November 2015.”
The statement reads further; “As part of the resolution, NAFDAC would be present during the destruction of the expired raw materials in its rented warehouse and both parties agreed that this would be the procedure for the exercise in future.
“Guinness Nigeria also agreed to pay administrative and service charges to NAFDAC to cover the cost of the investigative inspection of raw materials carried out by the Agency as well as the supervision by NAFDAC of the destruction of the raw materials which would be carried out by Guinness Nigeria.
“The administrative and service charges of approximately N11.4m has since been paid to NAFDAC,”
NAFDAC had in November, 2015 imposed a fine of N1 billion on Guinness claiming the fine was administrative charged “for various clandestine violations of NAFDAC rules, regulations and enactments over a long period of time.”
Added to that, other faults to which accrued the imposed fine as listed by the agency include; revalidation of expired products without proper permission and supervision of the agency and failure to secure warehouse gates as the agency claimed that “the raw materials used in the production of beer and non-alcoholic beverages by the brewer were permanently opened to intrusion and exposure to the elements and rodents, which invariably affect the integrity of the raw materials.”