A Pharmaceuticals company whose cough syrups have been linked to the deaths of children in Gambia, has denied it had tampered with test samples or bribed officials to do so.

The denial from India’s maiden pharmaceuticals comes in the face of an allegation made against it in a complaint under investigation by local health officials in India

Authorities in the state of Haryana’s Food and Drug Administration on Friday said they were close to finishing a probe into whether a state drug regulator was bribed to switch samples, tested by the Indian government, and that contradicted the World Health Organization (WHO)’s findings of toxic substances in the cough syrups. 

Maiden founder Naresh Kumar Goyal is reported to have vehemently denied the allegation. Goyal according to the Reuters news  agency said a competitor was behind the complaint but did not name them.

The WHO linked syrups made by Maiden to the deaths of 70 children in Gambia. The deaths in the Gambia of kidney-related problems between July and October last year after consuming the cough syrup were not the only ones. 

Dozens of other children died in Cameroon and Uzbekistan.