Two women, a 40-year-old Singaporean and a 41-year-old Singapore Permanent Resident, were charged in court on 26 June 2020 with failure to provide information to the Police relating to the supply of designated luxury items to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), in contravention of the United Nations (Sanctions – DPRK) Regulations 2010.
Investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department revealed that SCN Singapore Pte Ltd, Laurich International Pte Ltd and Sindok Trading Pte Ltd, had supplied designated luxury items, which included precious jewellery and watches with precious metals, to the DPRK on 43 occasions between 27 December 2010 and 18 November 2016. The 40-year-old woman was an employee of SCN Singapore Pte Ltd and handled administrative work for Laurich International Pte Ltd and Sindok Trading Pte Ltd. The 41-year-old woman was an employee of T Specialist International (S) Pte Ltd, which had supplied designated luxury items to the DPRK on 79 occasions between 23 November 2010 and 5 January 2017.
Despite having information about the prohibited transactions made by the companies which they worked for, both women failed to provide the Police with the information. They were charged with 43 and 79 counts of breaches of Regulation 14(1)(c)(i) read with Regulation 16(1) of the United Nations (Sanctions – DPRK) Regulations 2010 respectively.
T Specialist International (S) Pte Ltd had earlier been fined $380,000 on 22 November 2019 while the court proceedings for the three other companies are ongoing.
The United Nations (Sanctions – DPRK) Regulations 2010 prohibits any person in Singapore or citizen of Singapore outside Singapore from supplying, selling or transferring, directly or indirectly, any designated luxury item to any person in the DPRK. Anyone in Singapore and any citizen of Singapore outside Singapore who has information about any property of persons designated by the United Nations, any transaction of such property or any transaction prohibited by the Regulations should immediately inform the Police and provide such information relating to the transaction. If convicted of an offence under the United Nations Act for breaching these regulations, the accused person can be jailed for up to five years (if the offence was committed before 10 March 2014) or 10 years (if the offence was committed on or after 10 March 2014); or fined; or both.
Anyone with information relating to such cases may call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. Please dial ‘999’ if you require urgent Police assistance.
Singapore takes its obligations under the United Nations Security Council Resolutions seriously. We will not hesitate to take action against any individual or entity that breaches our laws and regulations.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
26 June 2020 @ 5:00 PM