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- Institut Pasteur head's strange mea culpa
- Brechot has personal reason to keep quiet
- Destroying ‘ghost' samples makes his assertion of safety moot
- Cover up was a joint effort including Uhtaek Oh, chairman of the IPK board
- My integrity at stake
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| Dr. Hakim Djaballah, former CEO of Institut Pasteur Korea |
2014 was not a good year for Institut Pasteur Paris (IPP) President, Christian Brechot, some 2,300 tubes containing the deadly SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus mysteriously disappeared from a high level biosecurity lab level 3 (BSL3). Brechot was quoted back then as saying "Human error is the most probable reason, but we do not exclude anything" followed by "We knew from the beginning that the samples were not infectious, as the independent experts confirmed" and he concluded by saying "We took a decision to inform the public. We want to be perfectly transparent" The French National Agency for the Safety of Medicine and Health Products (ANSM) was notified and they immediately investigated the case with no results as to whereabouts of the SARS samples.
But, a year later, his transparent beliefs seem to have choked. This time there was no perfect transparency whatsoever, the French authorities, the public and the ANSM agency alike were not informed. Brechot ordered the destruction of the MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) samples left by the Korean virologist Miss Ji-Young Min, citing in his favor, an IPP protocol and fulfilling the "not seen, not taken" prophecy as concluded in a recent article by the French newspaper "Le Canard Enchaine,", the perfect cover-up he thought. This behavioral change is due perhaps to two factors. The first, to do with the reappointment issues surrounding Brechot's age and other controversies as he has been fighting to change the laws allowing him a second term of four years, sounding more like a dictator wanting to grab to power in an open French democracy; and the second, to do with the total absence of independent expert testimonies after the fact, since the samples were never validated in Korea as "inactive", and they were conveniently destroyed making any independent expert evaluation impossible. Brechot was contacted via email by The Korea Times but unfortunately he refused to engage in the conversation.
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| Christian Brechot, left, Institut Pasteur Paris (IPP) president, and Uhtaek Oh, chairman of IPK board / Korea Times file |
What would Dr. Louis Pasteur think of these recent events surrounding his institute? Its president Brechot committed a serious act of interfering directly or indirectly in the cover-up of a bioterrorist act committed by Miss Min in Oct., 2015, and potentially exposing globally many innocent lives to an unnecessary risk from the deadly MERS virus. As an advocate for global public health and a leader, Brechot failed to perform the simple act of decency by alerting the French authorities when the incident happened, obtaining emergency permission to assess the risk of the MERS samples brought by Miss Min, assess the risk of the samples at his BSL3, and only then, he can order their destruction if deemed to be non-contagious and truly inactivated. Instead, Brechot sat tight, kept quiet, and interfered with my activities when I was head of Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) in the hope that if I left office, then Brechot would have won the total cover-up of the incident. The story is out through the article by The Korea Times on Oct. 5, 2016.
The timelines constructed by The Korea Times and to the best of my knowledge reveal that Brechot failed to report this incident on many occasions unless he was truly covering it all up. Brechot had many opportunities to alert the authorities in France and Korea. Brechot attended several board of directors meetings of IPK between Oct., 2015 and Oct., 2016, where some board members are Korean government officers. Brechot has never officially reached out to me regarding the incident, but he has verbally intimidated me to drop his investigation.
Brechot first denied the incident ever happened then few days ago he reassures the French government and public that the MERS samples were inactivated therefore present no risk. This is totally false. The MERS samples, he refers to as harmless, were indeed stolen from the IPK BSL3 and I called them "ghost samples"; through our investigation, we could not find nor confirm any record of their origin or experiments leading us to believe that indeed they were properly inactivated; The risk from these samples will remain unknown forever, since Christian, conveniently ordered their destruction. In view of all the attempts at covering-up by IPP, IPK's chairman of the board and Bruzzone, I strongly believe that it is in the best interest of global public health and IPP, that Brechot should do the right thing and step down, allowing for a new fresh leadership to rebuild the damage and mistrust he caused; as for Miss Min, board chairman Uhtaek Oh and Bruzzone, they must be investigated for their role in the incident/cover-up and given appropriate sentencing in Korea. Miss Min must be put on a "no fly list" for sure and not allowed on any Korean Air flights.
On the outcome of my Jan., 2016 investigation, it was a hardship to get to the bottom of things and to the truth, but I was not allowed to complete everything. Since finding out about the MERS transfer to Paris, the lies that followed from Miss Min were incredible, she is just a remarkable manipulative and compulsive liar, to the extent that she accused me of ordering her to take the samples to Paris. Miss Min sent me an email on Jan. 5, 2016 saying "MERS samples never been taken from IP Korea to IP Paris. Please refer to our BSL3 facility entry log and virus inventory." Even Marc Jouan, VP of IPP international affairs, visited me at my home in Itaewon while I was recovering from surgery, to deliver a very clear message from Brechot that I must drop all investigations into Miss Min transfer of the MERS to Paris, and I should not consider opening the investigation into the sexual harassment accusations against Marc Windisch, a German national and a sexual predator who allegedly led a Korean female researcher to suicide. My fears of a breach were confirmed when my head of safety reported back that he could not find any evidence in the records for the MERS experiments, Miss Min performed, on Sept. 25, 2015 as seen on the CCTV footage. It is the worst breach of a BSL3 in Korea and in my opinion, an act of terrorism by Miss Min. This is not the behavior of a normal person rather of a psychopath, as she has even put her own son and parents in harm's way.
It is also equally as important for the Korean public to know that Miss Min failed her yearly work performance evaluation with a very poor score and no tangible results. She is paid a yearly salary of 160 million won since 2011 and her son education is also paid for by IPK at an annual cost of 23 million won. She is a Korean national and IPK pays for her child education, a support reserved only for expatriates. Miss Min has not produced anything of value for Korea except very bad publicity and an act of bioterrorism.
I am happy the story is finally out but not very satisfied with the outcome as yet, after spearheading the MERS investigation, against the wishes of Paris, IPK chairman of the board Uhtaek Oh, and leading to the formal dismissal of Miss Min. Miss Min and Marc Windisch were subsequently reinstated by Bruzzone, my successor on interim status, as if nothing had ever happened on Mar. 21, 2016; Bruzzone himself told a group of investigators at IPK who oppose the return of these two individuals on Mar 7, 2016 that they were "his friends", and he saw no reason as to why they were not allowed back. Feeling the pressure that his stay in Korea could be cut short if the MERS incident went public, Bruzzone put together a statement on Sept. 21, 2016 shifting the blame to Miss Park (not her real name), a researcher under the care of Miss Min and his esteemed colleagues at Asan Medical Center (AMC); and concluded by saying that "there was no evidence that MERS coronavirus-infected cells -- even after fixation -- were taken out of the institute after samples were transferred to AMC."
In fact, Bruzzone has made every effort not to mention Miss Min in his entire email and statement. He concluded by saying that all related documents and emails might be consulted upon request. Obviously, Bruzzone has not been provided all the evidence or he is lying out of his teeth. Miss Min already informed me of the work carried out at AMC with her collaborator in her email of Jan. 5, 2016. This is a very clear example of dishonesty, cover-up, and a big lie from Bruzzone. In view of this, how can we trust Bruzzone to lead IPK and be compassionate about the Korean people?
Regarding Brechot, Uhtaek Oh, and Jouan, God forbid the stolen samples burst open at Incheon exposing thousands to the deadly MERS and cause another outbreak -- who is to blame? Who is responsible for this terrorist act? The Korean government or Institut Pasteur? I say this with a serious cautionary note because of the origin of this particular MERS. It was collected from a MERS-infected patient room. Miss Min's collaborator went into the patient room, after the room was disinfected by hospital staff if I recall correctly, and collected both air and surface swabs. The swabs were then brought to IPK. Miss Min results published in the scientific magazine Clinical Infectious Diseases, if indeed true and not falsified in any way, seems to suggest that MERS can grow again and it is airborne even after harsh cleansing; therefore making it a very dangerous and ultimately an ideal bio-weapon to harm others. Knowing all that, Miss Min still opted to steal MERS samples, hide them in her parent's home, and take them to Paris. We remind ourselves that one single patient infected with MERS caused a national disaster in Korea with many infected and dead citizens, and a huge economical loss to the country. Brechot made sure that we will never know if these samples were contagious or not.
Regarding intimidation and harassment I sustained over many months, I have no regrets whatsoever, as I will never compromise my integrity and morals for anyone. If the clock goes back to Oct., 2015, I will execute exactly the same way. I came to Korea to help but I was presented with obstacles at every step of the way from both the French and Korean sides. However, what bothered me the most was how low some individuals can go to intimidate and cause harm to me and my family. Brechot, Jouan and Uhtaek Oh have coached Miss Min and Marc Windisch (the sexual predator) to file serious complaints against me at the Yongsan Police Station for insult, indecent act by force, and intimidation; which, after careful investigation by the Yongsan Police officers who interviewed me and visited my office space at IPK, the Seoul prosecutor's office could not find any strong evidence supporting their accusations and declared me clear of suspicion. Even Yung-Bog Chae, the former chairman of the IPK board, called me in order to help, and to deliver a message from Miss Min telling me that she is prepared to withdraw her complaints if I refrain from speaking about MERS, drop the lawsuit, pay her a sum of money to cover her legal expenses, and that her lawyer will draft a contract for me to sign. This is a new form of blackmail by proxy!
