Director Choo Zheng Xi is part of a multi-firm team that secured an acquittal in an Endangered Species Act Prosecution involving a cargo of Madagascan rosewood logs S$71 million.
A judge has dismissed the case against a managing director and his firm for allegedly importing about 30,000 rosewood logs worth US$50 million (S$71 million) without a permit after she ruled that the goods were in transit here and Hong Kong-bound.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur held that prosecutors had not made the case to justify the charge under the Endangered Species Act against Mr Wong Wee Keong and his company Kong Hoo.
In a rare outcome, she dismissed the case without calling for the defence. Prosecutors had called 10 witnesses to support their case.
“The test for calling the defence at the close of the prosecution’s case is whether the prosecution has led some not inherently incredible evidence, which assuming such evidence to be reliable, would establish the elements of the offence,” she wrote in judgment grounds released on Oct 28.
The goods, which were acquired from Madagascar by Kong Hoo, were seized in March last year when a cargo vessel carrying them berthed at Jurong Port. They were meant to be restuffed into containers and shipped to Hong Kong. It was reported then to be the largest amount of rosewood logs ever seized.