Swisse Suing ABC for Defamation over The Checkout Segment The Checkout on ABC1 with Kate Browne, Craig Reucassel, Julian Morrow and Kirsten Drysdale. Photo: ABC TV publicity The family behind high-profile vitamins company Swisse has hit back at ABC TV's consumer show The Checkout, with the father of the company's chief executive claiming he was ""severely injured in his reputation and standing"" by the program. In a writ filed with the Victorian Supreme Court on April 26, Avni Sali, the father of Swisse chief executive Radek Sali, claims that The Checkout defamed him by saying he ""manipulated"" clinical tests of a Swisse appetite suppressant to benefit the company. In the segment, broadcast on March 21, presenter Craig Reucassel is seen saying the case of Swisse's product ""highlights everything that's wrong with the regulation of natural medicines in Australia"." Reucassel, his Chaser colleague Julian Morrow, who also appears on and produces The Checkout, executive producer Nick Murray and the ABC are named as defendants. Mr Murray said on Thursday evening:"We deny all the ridiculous imputations and will be defending it vigorously." In addition to asking the court to order the removal of the segment from the ABC website, Dr Sali seeks aggravated damages because the defendants ""were recklessly indifferent as to the truth of the program"" and broadcast the segment without contacting him or ""making any proper enquiries as to the truth of the program"." Dr Sali is the founder of the National Institute of Integrative Medicine, which conducted a clinical trial on the product and according to The Checkout was funded by Swisse. ""The program was meant and was understood to mean that the plaintiff performed clinical tests... and then manipulated the published results for the commercial benefit of Swisse,"" Dr Sali alleges. He also alleges the segment portrayed the tests as ""not independent"," ""untrustworthy"" and conveyed the impression ""there was a stench"" about his performance of the tests. The episode heavily criticised Swisse's Ultiboost Appetite Suppressant, which contains an extract from an Indian cactus. Regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration cancelled the registration of the product after the episode went to air. However, Swisse evaded the ban by changing the product's name to Ultiboost Hunger Control and it remains on shop shelves. The ABC is yet to file a defence.