SINGAPORE - In the final twist to a five-year saga involving a shipment of Madagascan rosewood logs worth US$50 million , the Court of Appeal on Monday quashed the convictions of a Singaporean businessman and his trading firm for importing the logs without a permit.
The court also ordered the 29,434 logs that authorities had seized in March 2014 to be released to Mr Wong and his firm"as soon as was practicable". A logistics company engaged by Mr Wong to repack the logs into containers for transshipment then moved some of the logs to a yard within the port. He and his company were acquitted in 2015 midway through the trial when District Judge Jasvender Kaur dismissed the prosecution's case without calling for the defendants to answer to the charges.
Mr Wong was sentenced to three months' jail and the maximum $500,000 fine, while the company was sentenced to a $500,000 fine. The Act stipulates two conditions that have to be satisfied for a scheduled species to be considered to be in transit.