Dabur godown in Nepal raided, sealed after irregularity complaint

KATHMANDU - Nepals Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Monday raided the godown of Indian FMCG giant Dabur Indias independent group company in Nepal, sealing it and forbidding further sale and distribution of its Real brand of fruit juices from the godown till investigations were over.

The dramatic move came after Dabur Nepal faced a long campaign in a section of the media about the quality of its Real brand of fruit juices.

The sealing of the godown is likely to hit supplies of Real fruit juices to India and other countries with the factory in southern Nepal being the main manufacturing point.

We conducted the raid on Dabur Nepals godown (in Bara district in southern Nepal) Monday after complains about irregularities, CIAA spokesman Ishwori Prasad Poudel told IANS.

According to Poudel, the complaints were about wrong manufacturing dates on the cartons. They alleged that batches of the juice manufactured in November 2010 had been cartoned in packs dated January 2011.

Our team has collected samples and sealed the godown, the official said. When they return to Kathmandu we will begin investigations. We have asked Dabur Nepal authorities not to sell the fruit juices in the godown till the investigation is over.

There was no immediate reaction from Dabur Nepal despite efforts to contact the multinational company in Kathmandu.

The raid came after Dabur Nepal faced a long media campaign said to be triggered by its refusal to advertise with certain media groups.

The victimisation of the Indian JV, which is one of the biggest tax-payers in Nepal, was condemned by the Confederation of Indian Industry that warned such campaigns would negatively affect Indian investment in Nepal.

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)