A Boots pharmacist manager has been struck off the professional register for attempting to steal a "substantial quantity" of perfume testers from the company.

Sudhir Manilal Monji, registration number 2031792, loaded two crates of fragrance testers into his car and drove away "aggressively" when challenged, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) heard at a fitness-to-practise hearing on December 10.

Mr Monji then arranged for someone to leave the testers in the store's disabled toilet two days later and claimed they had never left the store, the regulator heard.

The GPhC rejected the claims of Sudhir Manilal Monji, registration number 2031792, that he had not taken the testers, and said he had tried to mislead the GPhC by discrediting witnesses and giving false evidence	More on fitness to practise Pharmacy owner suspended for £2,000 fraud Lloyds pharmacist gets official warning over warfarin error Pharmacist suspended for illicit drug use
	The GPhC accepted that Mr Monji was an "excellent pharmacist" of general good character. But it rejected the 52-year-old's claims that he had not taken the testers, and said he had tried to mislead the GPhC by discrediting witnesses and giving false evidence.

Mr Monji was the manager of a Boots branch in Whetstone at the time of the theft in September 2010. He ordered fragrance testers from head office using an electronic system without speaking to the branch's beauty consultant, who placed a separate order, and identified himself by using the reference ‘S'.

The store's team was suspicious of Mr Monji's behaviour and informed Boots' profit protection manager. The profit protection manager visited the store and saw Mr Monji carrying crates to his car, which he believed contained the perfume testers.

When Mr Monji was confronted, the profit protection manager said he refused to stop the car despite him "chasing and banging on the boot", and drove through shrubbery to get away. The fragrance testers had disappeared from the stock room, where they had originally been stored.

A staff member at the store said he had received a call that night from Mr Monji, who reported that he had been seen taking the fragrance testers and asked for help.

Two days later, a woman came into the branch carrying a large suitcase and hiding her face from CCTV cameras, and went into the disabled toilets. The fragrance testers were found in the disabled toilets the following morning.

Mr Monji was subsequently dismissed from Boots, which he unsuccessfully appealed at an employment tribunal. Staff at the Boots branch said there had been no more large orders of fragrance testers since Mr Monji left the company.

Mr Monji maintained his innocence and claimed the testimonials were false. He admitted to ordering a small number of testers but denied taking any of them and said Boots' profit protection manager had only seen him loading empty crates into his car.

Mr Monji branded the evidence from the profit protection manager "improbable, flawed and untrue" and argued that one of the staff members held a grudge against him.

The GPhC accepted that Mr Monji was a caring pharmacist with a "long and distinguished record". But it rejected the claim that there was a "conspiracy" to give false evidence against Mr Monji and ruled that he had lied to escape the consequences of his actions.

The GPhC said Mr Monji was guilty of "gross and serious dishonesty" and ruled to strike him off the register.

Read the full transcript of the hearing here.

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