Store owner fined $30,000 for illegally selling medication
If Lucky Plaza store owner can't pay fine, she will be jailed 12 weeks
A grocery store in Lucky Plaza was found to be illegally peddling painkillers, antibiotics and contraceptives.
Owner Valdez Ana Rubirosa Manalo, 47, a Filipina, was fined $30,000 yesterday.
She will spend 12 weeks behind bars if she fails to pay the amount.
The Singapore permanent resident, who owns Cabalen Grocery on the fourth storey of the shopping mall in Orchard Road, pleaded guilty last month to six counts of being in possession of unregistered therapeutic products for the purpose of supplying them to others.
Court documents showed that Cabalen Grocery had earlier been fined $4,000 for offences under the Poisons Act.
In 2016, the store was found to be in possession of products such as sibutramine - an appetite suppressant - and clobetasol propionate, which is used to treat various skin disorders, including eczema and psoriasis.
CONCEALED
Health Sciences Authority (HSA) prosecutor Debra Ann Tan said HSA investigators inspected the shop around 3.20pm on July 23 last year and uncovered "an assortment of therapeutic products" concealed under the cashier's counter.
Investigations revealed that a woman known only as "Tita" went to Cabalen Grocery in January last year to sell an assortment of pills, capsules and tablets.
Manalo agreed to buy them for $300 as she occasionally had customers who asked for them.
Ms Tan said: "Even though the accused knew that selling such products was illegal, the accused continued to engage in the offences because she wanted additional income."
For each count of being in possession of unregistered therapeutic products for the purpose of supplying them to others, offenders can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $50,000.
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