Cpharm forced to deny ‘ridiculous’ links to the Taliban after shocker of a news report
NSW pharmaceutical services firm Cpharm has been forced to deny it’s in cahoots with the Taliban after a poorly sourced news report blew up.
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A family business from the Hunter Valley in New South Wales has been forced to deny it is bankrolling a $US450m ($625m) Taliban hashish operation after an incorrect news report from Afghanistan went viral.
Cpharm director Josie Gabites said the Maitland company had been inundated with phone calls from the media and members of the public about the claim that the 17-person firm had met with Taliban officials about setting up a hashish-processing plant.
A news report from Pajhwok Afghan News, the details of which were later syndicated in the Times of London, and reportedly retweeted by the BBC and a middle-eastern news outlet, claimed Cpharm representatives had met with Taliban’s Interior Ministry.
“Cpharm will invest $450m in setting up a hashish-processing plant in Afghanistan,’’ the report said.
“Interior Ministry spokesperson Qari Saeed Khosti said certain medicines and creams would be manufactured by the hashish-processing factory.
“Representatives of the Australia-based firm met counternarcotic officials at the Ministry of Interior on the issue, he added.
“Talks with the company on the establishment of the plant have concluded and practical work on the project will begin soon. Hundreds of people will get work opportunities on the project.’’
The article even claimed to have verified the claim with a Cpharm representative, and said they had wanted to expand the country’s hashish production from 10,000 acres to 15,000 acres.
Ms Gabites said Cpharm did not even make products, as it was a quality assurance and pharmaceutical services company.
She said on Thursday she had “had better days’’.
“We’ve been pretty much inundated with emails and phone calls from when we arrived this morning, by the media, the public, everyone effectively,’’ Ms Gabites said.
Ms Gabites said people were making it clear that they weren’t happy the company was supposedly dealing with the Taliban.
“We have no dealings with Afghanistan at all and we have no idea how it actually started other than potentially a company with a similar name overseas and they’ve just jumped to that conclusion,’’ she said.
“We have nothing to do with products, we don’t distribute, we don’t market, we don’t sell, we have no products.
“It’s not exactly the best publicity but thankfully most of the companies we do deal with are part of the pharmaceutical industry and I can’t imagine any of them taking it seriously.’’
Someone on Thursday left the company a one star review on Google.
It is illegal under sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council and implemented by the federal government to trade with the Taliban regime.
Ms Gabites thanked News Corp Australia for checking its facts.
Originally published as Cpharm forced to deny ‘ridiculous’ links to the Taliban after shocker of a news report
Australia’s ‘best beach’ not one for the faint hearted
Tourism Australia has travelled a long way south to pick the nation’s best beach for 2025, bestowing the title on not just one but a series of them.
Arrogant Big Super opts out of decency
Thousands of Rest Super members wrongly slugged for insurance have been told they need to get in contact if they don’t want to keep paying the fees turned on by ‘accident’ months ago.