Man with US$5m bounty on his whereabouts over North Korea oil shipments ‘presently in Singapore’: SPF

CRIMINAL COMPLAINT BY US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

In line with SPF, the US Division of Justice on Apr 23, 2021 introduced {that a} legal criticism had been filed towards Kwek for allegedly conspiring to evade financial sanctions towards North Korea in addition to for cash laundering.

It added {that a} tanker Brave (beforehand often known as Sea Prima) had been seized. Brave was a vessel allegedly bought by Kwek to make illicit deliveries of petroleum merchandise via ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean vessels, and direct shipments to the North’s port of Nampo.

SPF began formal investigations towards Kwek on Apr 28, 2021 for doable offences underneath Part 5 of the United Nations Act 2001.

On Apr 29 that yr, SPF issued a information launch confirming that Kwek was being investigated for doable offences underneath the Act.

A day later, the SPF shared data on the investigations towards Kwek with the US regulation enforcement authorities by way of a letter.

The data was formally conveyed by Singapore to numerous US companies via a Third-Get together Notice on Could 7, 2021.

Since then, there have been a number of extra exchanges, stated SPF, including that investigations are nonetheless ongoing “because of the nature and complexity of the case”.

SPF added that it wrote to its US counterparts on Nov 4, 2022 to hunt clarification, provided that it “had been in lively communication” with its US counterparts on Kwek’s case.

“Singapore will proceed to help the US authorities inside the ambit of our legal guidelines and worldwide obligations.”