One company, two owners sanctioned: Second pharmacist gets 10-month suspension and $10K in hearing costs

In what seems like a case of déjà vu, another pharmacist and co-owner of a pharmacy corporation that was found to have submitted false claims to the provincial drug benefit plan has been suspended and ordered to pay costs by the Ontario College of Pharmacists. Adel Soliman, who was a designated pharmacy manager, director and shareholder of a corporation that owned Toronto-based Westown Pharmacy and a Main Drug Mart that closed in 2018, has been suspended for 10 months and ordered to pay $10,000 in hearing costs. He is the second pharmacist, director and shareholder in the corporation to be disciplined by the college. Read: 32-month suspension: Pharmacy owner pays the price for more than $1 million in false claims Soliman has also been banned for three years from owning a pharmacy or acting as designated pharmacy manager. The penalty decision, which was handed down last October, was publicized in January by the college. Soliman pleaded guilty to all seven allegations of professional misconduct, which relate to activities from December 1, 2015 to May 28, 2019. During this period, according to the decision document, Soliman submitted false claims for one or more drugs that were not actually dispensed to patients. The aggregate value of these unsubstantiated claims was estimated at just over $47,000. Read: 32-month suspension: Pharmacy owner pays the price for more than $1 million in false claims Soliman also falsified records for these claims, submitted a false of misleading account or charge, and signed a document that contained a false or misleading statement, according to the decision document. During the hearing, Soliman explained that he was often “overstretched” from managing both Westown Pharmacy and Main Drug Mart and had relied on his staff to reverse billings when medications were not picked up. However, the college’s discipline committee concluded that as designated manager, he was “ultimately responsible for the false claims that were submitted to the Ontario Drug Benefit program.” The committee also noted that Soliman’s actions were “repeated, occurring over a period of several years.” Soliman’s case is an offshoot of an investigation into another pharmacist, Atef Besada, who was also a director and shareholder of Westown Pharmacy’s parent company. In the course of that investigation, prescription and pharmacy records for Westown and another pharmacy associated with Besada, were reviewed. Besada was sanctioned last April over charges similar to what Soliman faced. He was suspended for 17 months, prohibited for five years from owning or managing a pharmacy, and ordered to pay $10,000 in hearing costs. Read: High price to pay: Pharmacist banned and hit with fines and college costs totalling $110,000

One company, two owners sanctioned: Second pharmacist gets 10-month suspension and $10K in hearing costs

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