A scandal pertaining to illegal pharmaceutical products was uncovered in Lebanon earlier this week amid reports that the brother of Minister of State for Administrative Reform Mohammad Fneish is involved in the case. Also, some media outlets reported that four of the implicated companies have relations with the Shiite group Hezbollah.  Lebanon’s Parliamentary Health Committee chief Atef Majdalani said Thursday that “four pharmaceutical importers were involved in an operation to import more than 100 types of drugs through forged [documentation].”

On Friday, Future News television cited sources as saying that Fneish’s brother was the person who “forged the signature” of Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil in order to import untested pharmaceuticals into the country. [Link]