Singaporean charged with supplying luxury items to North Korea
A Singaporean man, Chong Hock Yen, 58, was charged yesterday with allegedly supplying prohibited luxury goods to North Korea worth over $500,000.
Chong, a director of three local firms, was charged with 43 counts of being involved in a conspiracy to illegally supply to the country goods such as perfumes, cosmetics, jewellery and watches.
This is against the United Nations (Sanctions-DPRK) Regulations 2010, which prohibits people in Singapore or Singaporeans outside the country from selling or supplying any designated luxury item to anyone in North Korea.
The sanctions were imposed by the United Nations Security Council on North Korea to curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In a statement yesterday, the police said investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department found Chong had allegedly abetted three companies to supply forbidden items to North Korea on 43 occasions between Dec 27, 2010, and Nov 18, 2016.
His three companies - SCN Singapore, Laurich International (now known as Gunnar Singapore) and Sindok Trading (now known as BSS Global) - were charged with the same offence yesterday.
The firms share a Pasir Panjang Road address, The Straits Times reported.
Chong allegedly committed the offences with three others: Lam Hong Lan, Li Ik and North Korean Li Hyon, who was also charged yesterday.
Li Hyon, 30, is accused of 14 counts of being involved in a conspiracy to supply similar luxury items worth more than $400,000 to his home country.
He allegedly committed the offences between September 2014 and January last year.
Chong was offered bail of $100,000 while Li Hyon was offered bail of $150,000.
The cases involving Chong and Li Hyon have been adjourned to Nov 14.
Another Singaporean, Ng Kheng Wah, 56, was charged with the same offence on July 19 this year, The Straits Times reported.
He will be back in court on Nov 8.
The director of two Singapore-registered general wholesale trade companies - T Specialist International and OCN (Singapore) - is accused of 80 counts of offences under the United Nations Act and 81 cheating charges.
He allegedly supplied luxury goods worth about $6 million to North Korea and cheated banks of more than US$95 million (S$131 million).
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