RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The deputy chair of the Brazilian Senate parliamentary inquiry committee (Covid’s CPI), Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Speech-AP), said in an interview Wednesday (11) that the Indian company Bharat Biotech, maker of Covaxin vaccine, could be deemed ineligible in Brazil in the final opinion of the investigation.
The company refused to submit the full texts of the contracts to sell vaccines to the country, in which Precisa Medicamentos acted as an intermediary, he said.
“We have already requested a hearing at the Indian Embassy, asking for international cooperation. We began to wonder if this contract actually existed. It was important for them to contribute because this CPI can discredit Bharat Biotech in Brazil. The best thing would be for them to contribute to the ongoing investigation,” he said.
Next week, businessman Francisco Maximiano, owner of Precisa, and his partner at 6M Participações, also a businessman in the pharmaceutical sector, Danilo Berndt Trento, will be called as witnesses.
According to Senator Rodrigues’s forecast, Trento was to speak to the committee on Tuesday and Maximiano on Wednesday. The agenda is not yet finalized, and more testimony may be included.
The Covid CPI has already been advised that Maximiano has appealed again to the Supreme Court (STF), so as not to have to attend.