Off licence sold fake vodka

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Fined £1,000 and ordered to pay more than £1,300 in court costs

Saravanapavananthasivam Parthipan who runs Veeno Wines in East Hill was prosecuted by the council's trading standards department under consumer protection laws.

Trading standards officers launched their investigation after they were contacted by a member of the public who'd purchased a bottle of "Kirov" vodka at the store in January. The shopper called in trading standards officers because the vodka "tasted funny".

When officers visited Mr Parthipan's shop they found another dozen bottles of counterfeit Kirov. During his trial at South Western magistrates court his defence was that his business partner had bought two cases of the vodka from a driver at a Croydon cash & carry business, and he was convinced they were the genuine product.

However, the district judge hearing the case was told that trading standards officers had visited the same cash & carry and found nothing other than genuine Kirov vodka.

He was found guilty of the offence and fined £1,000 with costs of £1,322. All of the fake vodka was ordered to be forfeited.

Chief trading standards officer Les Eames said: "We responded to this complaint immediately because there have been very dangerous bottles of fake vodka in circulation in recent years, including some that killed a woman in Scotland in 2003, so we needed to find out very quickly what this was and make sure the public were not in any risk.

"We did have the contents of these bottles analysed in the laboratory but fortunately there was nothing untoward found. It was just very poor standard vodka."

Executive member for environment and leisure Cllr Malcolm Grimston said:
"This shopkeeper has been hit with a very substantial financial penalty so I hope this serves as a warning to other shops and off licences who may be tempted to swindle their customers and potentially put them at risk.

"If you are a licensee and you are offered a deal that looks too good to be true – then that should set the alarm bells ringing. If this bottle of fake vodka had been the same as the ones on sale in Scotland a few years ago, then this shopkeeper could have been facing a manslaughter charge and a very long jail sentence.

"It is not worth risking your liberty and your whole livelihood just to save a few pounds."

Anyone with information or concerns about fake or counterfeit goods being sold locally should call trading standards on (020) 8871 7720 or email tradingstandards@wandsworth.gov.uk.

November 16, 2007