A few weeks before the first anniversary of the Remedia affair, a special Israel Police investigative squad recommends indicting Remedia executives on suspicion of causing death through negligence. Remedia's attorneys held a press conference last night to denounce the police for hastiness. The attorneys claim that the recommendation to indict was due to "fear of public pressure."
Israel Police Central District concluded its investigation into the Remedia affair yesterday, and sent the evidence to the Central District Attorney's Office for a decision. The Remedia affair involved the absence of Vitamin B1 in the company's non-dairy infant formula imported from Humana Milchunion of Germany, which harmed several infants, killing two.
At yesterday's press conference called in response to the police recommendation, Remedia's attorney's said, "Parents have been applying very strong pressure on the police in the past month, and the police are afraid that on November 7, the anniversary of the affair, questions will be raised about why the investigation has taken a year.
"The key incident in the affair occurred at Humana. The German police carried out a thorough investigation and have not yet reached any conclusions, but here, in the side issue of the incident, they've already decided to indict. Someone here didn’t do serious work, and capitulated to the dictates of public opinion."
Remedia officials added, "We haven’t seen the evidence. How can we be accused without the Ministry of Health also being accused?"
Police sources believe that the evidence in the case could lead to indictments against senior Ministry of Health officials.
Remedia said, "Remedia acted responsibly throughout, in accordance with instructions and guidelines. Regrettably, in a tragedy of this kind there is a ritual that someone in Israel must be blamed. Since the manufacturer, to Remedia's regret, is not in Israel, the police prefer blaming someone they can lay their hands on."
Regarding the placing of responsibility on Remedia, the company's attorney said, "The issue of responsibility has risen several times in the past year. We distinguish between criminal liability, which does not exist in the case of Remedia and its managers, and public responsibility toward customers who bought Remedia products."
Remedia and Humana Milchunion have reached a compromise settlement with claimants and petitioners for a class-action lawsuit in the Remedia affair.
The claims are for mental distress and anxiety caused to parents of infants fed Remedia's non-dairy formula that lacked Vitamin B1. The settlement states that the claims do not deal with physical damage.
Under the settlement, the lawsuits will be approved as a class-action lawsuit without any admission of liability for the claims' allegations. A single group will be declared for everyone, which includes all families in Israel whose children consumed the products.
The settlement stipulates that Remadia and Humana Milchunion will pay a final and total payment of NIS 7.2 million.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on October 21, 2004