London, A British Indian businessman and his ex-wife are fighting extradition to the US on charges of defrauding American health programmes out of millions of dollars by providing cancer drugs not approved by the country's federal agency.
Sukhi Ghuman and Kiranjit Ghuman, both 48 and now based in the UK, appeared at Westminster Magistrate's Court in London last week for the extradition hearing. The pair, who have divorced since the charges were brought against them and deny the charges, are also being sought to stand trial in the US on separate drug smuggling charges.
According to court reports, a warrant was issued by the District Court of the Southern District of California in San Diego for the duo's arrest in October 2023.
Barrister Peter Caldwell KC, on behalf of the US government, said an investigation between September 2019 and April 2023 alleged the pair fraudulently obtained millions of dollars from Medicare and other health insurance plans in the United States.
The prosecution claims the Ghumans did this by obtaining cheap, unapproved chemotherapy and other drugs from overseas and using them on cancer patients at oncology clinics they controlled in California and Arizona. Investigators also said some of the medicine was out of date.
{{/usCountry}}The prosecution claims the Ghumans did this by obtaining cheap, unapproved chemotherapy and other drugs from overseas and using them on cancer patients at oncology clinics they controlled in California and Arizona. Investigators also said some of the medicine was out of date.
{{/usCountry}}The US extradition request also notes a separate scheme where one of their oncology clinics allegedly purchased US Food and Drug Administration approved drugs from United States' medical wholesalers and resold those drugs without a proper licence.
The court heard that the alleged offences happened while the pair were living in the US, with the drug smuggling charge carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in custody if found guilty.
Their defence teams have contested the charges on human rights grounds, with a ruling expected at a later date.
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