Individuals and Organisations Prosecuted for Illegal Shipment of Elephant Ivory and Pangolin Scales in 2019

In 2019, three shipments of pangolin scales, two of which also contained elephant ivory, were seized in Singapore en route from Africa to Vietnam. As the cases involve entities outside of Singapore, NParks has been working closely with the source and destination countries, as well as sharing information with international organisations such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as well as INTERPOL.

China was established to be the intended final destination country for these shipments. Our collaboration with China in relation to these cases has led to the arrests of 14 suspected criminals by Chinese authorities. NParks will continue to assist with international investigations into these cases.

Mr Speaker, two clarifications. One, whether NParks is also following the money; so, not just follow where the products are coming from or going to, but really follow the money trail. Only then, we can get to the kingpins rather than always catching the runners involved in the wildlife smuggling network. The second clarification is whether we can follow the British and work with our banks and financial institutions so that we can track these suspicious transactions that are linked to the wildlife smuggling network and halt the transactions in the first place. I think only then can we effectively address and wipe out this trade.

I thank the Member for his questions. As I had mentioned, NParks is helping with the international investigations into these cases. As and when they pick up any clues – the Member mentioned money trails – if they come across any evidence that would help the Chinese authorities, in this case, get better inputs into who the criminals behind this are, they will surface it to the Chinese authorities. So, yes, there is collaboration and when we come across evidence, we will surface to the relevant international authority that is looking into it.

What about the second part of the question, so that we can be more pre-emptive? We can get our banks and financial institutions to track all these suspicious transactions. Somebody paid for the shipments to be sent through Singapore. Can we audit and go to the money trail and find out who actually has been paying? And then, finally, we can get the kingpin. Otherwise, we are always arresting the runners who are already the low-level criminals. Let us go high up the food chain.

I thank the Member for his question. If there are monies that are related, be it money laundering or trafficking, this indeed would be surfaced by our financial institutions to aid investigations.