Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Fake products wipe out toilet paper company

MAMCO Paper Products P.L.C. is considering closing doors after 24 years of making paper, toilet and soft tissue. The company which is affiliated with MIDROC said that lower quality products being passed off as its own are behind the problem. They have asked the government for help but to no avail.
“The company is planning to lay off many employees,” said MAMCO’s attorney.
Research conducted last year by the company indicated that fake products are being distributed throughout Ethiopia. They found fake products being sold by at least 11 shops in Mercato.
Their study showed fake and real products being sold alongside each other or presented as different categories of products.
Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) is losing a large amount of revenue from this giant illegal market chain because these illegal manufactures are not paying taxes. The distributors are also not giving receipts for the fake products, the research report stated.
The fake products are also said to have caused respiratory problems and tarnishing the company’s trademark, the report went on to say.
The chain of the forged products and the findings of the research were reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an investigation wing of the Federal Police, according to Teka Mahari, the company’s attorney.
“The Bureau of Investigation has only arrested three of the distributers,” said the attorney.
“Police negligence has taken our last share of hope in finding the manufactures or staying in the market”.
The research team told Capital that negligence of different parts of the government  bodies  is costing the nation a fortune and discouraging loyal investors.
“We do all the assignments for police and using the data we gave them as an informant, they could have traced the manufacturer,” the attorney told Capital. “But they always complain about not having enough human resources for the intelligence and investigation team”.
“We have limited personnel working on intelligence but we are doing all we can to solve the crisis,” said Commander  Berhanu Abate of the FBI’s Trade Competition and Protection Directorate Director. “We are investigating the facts to find out the source”.
The company’s marketing manager refrained from disclosing the amount of damage caused to the company.
MAMCO which is the sister company of MIDROC was established in 1994 and produces toilet tissue, facial tissue, exercise books and napkin products.

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