Singapore fines company $1.1m for unlicensed drone exports
Singapore Customs said, 21 September, that a Singaporean company, its director and sales manager had been fined more than $1.1 million [US$750m approx.] ‘for exporting strategic goods without requisite permits.’
Singapore Customs said that ‘Hydronav Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd (“Hydronav”) was fined $1,133,412.25 for two counts of exporting strategic goods without the requisite permits, under Section 5 of the Strategic Goods (Control) Act (“SGCA”).
‘In addition, two male Singaporean employees of Hydronav – Poiter Agus Kentjana (“Poiter”), 57, and Wui Ong Chuan (“Wui”), 70 – were also fined for their involvement in the said offences. Poiter, who was Hydronav’s sales manager at the material time, was fined $35,000 (in default 14 weeks’ imprisonment)… [and]…‘Wui, who was a director in charge of the company’s import and export operations, was fined $45,000 (in default 18 weeks’ imprisonment).
It said that Singapore Customs had commenced investigations into Hydronav ‘based on information received alleging that the company had exported strategic goods from Singapore to Myanmar without a requisite permit. Investigations revealed that Poiter oversaw the sale of a multibeam echosounder system (“EM system”) to an entity in Myanmar. The EM system, procured from a company in Norway, consisted of sub-systems listed as controlled goods under the Strategic Goods (Control) Order (SGCO) 2017. Under the SGCA, the export of such goods from Singapore requires a permit. Hydronav did not obtain the requisite permit to export the EM system, even though both Poiter and Wui were aware that it would be subject to controls under the SGCA. Customs’ investigations also uncovered that Hydronav falsely submitted a statement to the Norwegian authorities stating that the goods were being exported to an entity in Indonesia.’
It said that, in the statement, ‘Poiter fraudulently listed the Indonesian entity as the end-user to deceive the Norwegian authorities into approving the export of the EM system from Norway to Singapore. He did so because two of Hydronav’s applications that listed an entity in Myanmar as the end-user were previously rejected by the Norwegian authorities.’
