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Fair Trading Commission (FTC) executive director Bevan Narinesingh came under intense and sustained cross-examination before the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC).

Speaker and committee chairman Jagdeo Singh repeatedly pressed Narinesingh on what he described as the commission’s “lethargy” and failure to use its extensive statutory powers to investigate alleged anti-competitive practices in the pharmaceutical sector.

The hearing, held in Parliament on December 2, quickly turned into a pointed confrontation on whether the FTC had mishandled a matter Singh said raised “issues of the highest national importance,” involving possible monopolistic behaviour in the supply and retail distribution of pharmaceuticals.