Thai authorities indict company over sale of second-hand medical gloves after CNN investigation

Thailand's Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) informed CNN it's working intently with the FBI on the SkyMed investigation.

"The Thai government is taking this issue seriously and we are making sure to bring justice to damaged parties," stated CIB Chief Jirabhob Bhuridej.

Some of the gloves despatched to individuals who ordered through Paddy the Room have been packed into containers bearing the SkyMed label.

CNN beforehand reported that Tarek Kirschen, a Miami-based businessman, had ordered about $2 million of gloves from Paddy the Room late final 12 months. The gloves that arrived have been branded SkyMed.

"These were reused gloves. They were washed, recycled," he informed CNN. "Some of them were dirty. Some of them had bloodstains ... I couldn't believe my eyes."

In December final 12 months the Thai Food and Drug Administration raided a Paddy the Room warehouse the place migrant staff have been packing unfastened gloves into containers branded SkyMed.

"Any sub-standard gloves, could be from China, Vietnam or Malaysia. They would bring these gloves in bulk, and they would not declare them as medical gloves. Then these gloves would be repacked as SkyMed and all documents would be doctored and sent to the 3rd country," Thai FDA Deputy Secretary-General Supattra Boonserm beforehand informed CNN.

CNN's investigation started months in the past. SkyMed representatives initially informed CNN they'd conform to an interview however then stopped returning a number of calls and emails. The company contacted CNN after our report revealed wanting to inform its aspect of the story.

On Wednesday in a prolonged on-camera interview with CNN, SkyMed's CEO Kampee Kampeerayannon denied his company was half of any repackaging operation occurring within the warehouse when it was raided.

"The owner of the warehouse, they just wanted to repack our brand and export it," he stated.

Kampeerayannon stated if any gloves are exported from Thailand underneath the SkyMed model, it's "not under our permission," he informed CNN.

The CEO stated Paddy the Room was "one of hundreds" of SkyMed brokers which had permission to promote and promote SkyMed gloves, although he says the connection ended over a 12 months in the past.

Speaking to CNN on Thursday, the Thai FDA's Boonserm stated it was potential, however unproven, that SkyMed was by some means a sufferer of counterfeiting.

One thriller is the place SkyMed sources its gloves.

Boonserm informed CNN that the company has an import license to herald medical gloves made in Vietnam, however information present SkyMed has by no means imported medical gloves to Thailand, nor does the company manufacture its personal gloves.

Kampeerayannon acknowledged to CNN that SkyMed doesn't have its personal manufacturing facility and doesn't have a license to supply medical gloves in Thailand.

After giving CNN contradictory solutions concerning the quantity of glove suppliers it has in Thailand, he finally stated there was only one.

Kampeerayannon claimed SkyMed has crammed orders for 100 million containers of gloves however wouldn't say who had bought them.

He informed CNN that US musician Nikki Lund had helped finance an order for 144 billion containers of SkyMed gloves -- a declare that Lund emphatically denied to CNN as "not possible and ridiculous."

That many gloves could be nearly 40 instances more gloves than the whole world produced final 12 months.

"You would need 200 or 300 factories to pull that off," stated American PPE skilled Douglas. Stein. "It's just stupid."