More than two years after nine Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) armoured vehicles worth HK$136.6 million (S$24 million) were seized in Hong Kong, a court in the territory has imposed fines on both the shipping firm APL and ship captain Pan Xuejun for their roles in the case.
The District Court judge ordered APL to pay a fine of HK$90,000 (S$15,600), while Pan was fined HK$9,000 and given a suspended jail term of three months.
Singapore-based APL and Pan were found guilty earlier on Monday (April 29) of importing strategic commodities without the necessary licence.
This came after a two-week trial that began in October.
Both the firm and captain had denied breaching the Import and Export Ordinance, which carries a maximum sentence of a jail term of seven years and an unlimited fine.
In delivering his decision on Monday, Judge Stanley Chan said the firm and the captain would have known that the containers carried the Terrexes but they failed to notify Hong Kong Customs officials and failed to get the proper licence.
He rejected the defence that the two did not have a clue that the military vehicles were on board the vessel as the receiver was Singapores Ministry of Defence and the sender, Taiwan.
Local media reported that the judge said the military vehicles could not be stored in a normal container, but a flat rack container.
And although a large canvas covered the vehicles, the tyres could still be seen which could not be covered entirely, so someone not kumgong would have seen them.
These information would have indicated the nature of the cargo.
In response to media queries, the Ministry of Defence said the court proceedings and verdict are a matter between APL and the Hong Kong authorities, in accordance with the due process of the Hong Kong law.
