Taiwanese businessman Chen Shih-hsien (陳世憲) has been indicted over illegal oil sales to North Korea that contravened UN sanctions against the nuclear-armed regime, Kaohsiung district prosecutors said yesterday.
Authorities in January launched a probe into Chen after Seoul said it was holding a Hong Kong-registered ship suspected of transferring oil to a North Korean vessel.
Chen has been charged with forgery for making a false declaration that a ship he had chartered was bound for Hong Kong, when it actually sailed to international waters to sell oil, prosecutors said in a statement.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
“Chen was well aware that the oil he purchased was being shipped to international waters for sale ... and made four false declarations last year,” the statement said.
Taiwan in September last year announced it was banning all trade activities with North Korea.
Local media have reported that Chen sold oil products through “a Chinese mediator.”
However, Chen has told reporters that he was “framed by China” and on Jan. 19 attempted suicide after the government announced a ban on all financial dealings with him and froze his companies’ bank accounts due to the probe.
Sources have told reporters that Chen claimed to prosecutors that he did not know the oil products were bound for a North Korean vessel.
He is on bail and has been barred from leaving Taiwan.
The case revolves around a ship called the Lighthouse Winmore, which was impounded in November last year by South Korean authorities after it allegedly transferred 600 tonnes of oil to North Korea’s Sam Jong 2.
The vessel was chartered by the Billions Bunker Group, which is incorporated in the Marshall Islands and is actually run by Chen, the prosecutors’ statement said.
The US had previously asked the UN Security Council to blacklist 10 ships — including the Lighthouse Winmore — for contravening sanctions against North Korea.
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