Businessman could face extradition to US over cancer drug smuggling

Two people could face extradition to the United States after being accused of defrauding health programmes out of millions of dollars by providing cancer drugs not approved by a federal agency.

Sukhi Ghuman, 48, of Syerston Hall near Newark, and his ex-wife Kiranjit Ghuman, 48, are also being sought to stand trial in the US on separate drug smuggling charges.

Prosecutors on behalf of the US government allege the pair told US federal health insurance program Medicare they were providing approved drugs, but provided cheaper ones and made profit on the difference.

The extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court is set to last five days.

Mr Ghuman previously told the BBC he strongly denied any wrongdoing and said he was trying to help patients who couldn't afford cancer treatment.

He has also disputed the allegation he made money from it.

A warrant was issued by the District Court of the Southern District of California in San Diego for the pair's arrest in October 2023.

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 alleged they 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 Investigators also said some of the medicine was out of date.

It has been alleged the pair then caused the clinics to bill Medicare and other health insurance providers as though more costly drugs that had been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were given to the cancer patients, pocketing the difference for financial gain.

The court heard US investigators said more than $9.6m (£7.2m) of fraudulent billing was sent to Medicare based on claims that omitted they were based on foreign, unapproved drugs, resulting in more than $2.9m (£2.2m) of payment to those clinics.

The extradition request also notes a separate scheme where one of their oncology clinics allegedly purchased FDA-approved drugs from United States' medical wholesalers and resold those drugs without a proper licence.

It is also alleged investigators in the US carried out searches of both clinics and found traces of non-approved drugs thrown away and unused items in fridges.

The court heard 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.

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