Fraud alleged in Canadian drug plant plan

HANLEY, Saskatchewan, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Canadian authorities said they charged a man who proposed building a pharmaceutical plant in Hanley, Saskatchewan, with fraud Thursday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police charged Gordon Carl Summers with five fraud-related counts plus other charges, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Summers, also known as Gordon Summer, was arrested after a months-long probe of his company, Vigor Biopharma, the CBC said.

The drug company had said last year it was ready to develop a $2.5 billion-a-year business by making a cancer drug from yew trees.

Summers, who said he was the firm's chairman, allegedly had said it would build a 30,000-square-foot plant in Hanley, creating 40 full-time jobs. The facility never materialized.