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[1] Experts have hailed Hong Kong’s first money-laundering conviction stemming from a wildlife trafficking case, saying it sets a positive direction for tackling the illegal trade of endangered animals. A Hong Kong man, 37, was sentenced to 40 months in jail at the District Court last month in a case involving about HK$6.7 million.
[2] Customs had conducted a follow-up financial investigation based on a smuggling case in 2022 involving a batch of food and endangered live corals, with an estimated total market value of about HK$1.5 million. The investigation revealed that the 37-year-old had used his personal bank accounts to conduct numerous suspicious transactions between April 2021 and September 2023. The man was convicted of money laundering under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
[3] Sam Inglis, a wildlife programme manager at environmental group ADM Capital Foundation, said the sentence was fair, considering the scale of the crime. He said that the longest sentence he had seen for wildlife trafficking – without the money laundering offence factored in – was 39 months in jail for smuggling 440kg of pangolin scales. Inglis said Hong Kong had a flourishing coral trade. He pointed to a case in August where customs seized 1,574 suspected endangered live corals and 419 suspected endangered live tortoises, with an estimated market value of about HK$4.3 million.
[4] Associate law professor Amanda Whitfort said it was positive to see the first case with a money-laundering charge related to smuggling wildlife, as customs had looked into the financial records of the defendant. She said that it was possible the money was no longer in the bank accounts, which would explain why there was no forfeiture order. An order would have required the money to be transferred to the government.
[5] The man’s arrest in 2022 under money-laundering charges was a first for customs for someone suspected of smuggling endangered species. It followed an amendment of the ordinance in 2021 to cover certain wildlife trafficking-related crimes. The amendment, which was hailed as “historic” and “landmark”, allows authorities to secure court orders to acquire documents relevant to their investigations that they would otherwise not be able to obtain. It also enables judges to confiscate the proceeds of wildlife crimes and apply harsher penalties.
[6] Customs officers arrested the man on a “suspicious cargo vessel” headed towards mainland China in the sea off Cheung Chau, seizing items such as fruits and vegetables, chilled fish, frozen meat and live corals, which are endangered, according to the CITES treaty.
[7] CITES, or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is an agreement between governments. It aims to ensure international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species. It currently covers around 25,000 plant and 5,000 animal species.
Source: South China Morning Post, September 21
