HONG KONG: The Hong Kong Customs chief said that the Singapore government was not a target of the investigation surrounding nine seized military vehicles and other military hardware in Hong Kong.
Roy Tang Yun-kwong, the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, said that its investigation found that “someone” had violated the Import and Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations, and the department will commence criminal prosecution. Tang refused to disclose who the target is, but said the investigation does not involve the Southeast Asian state.
“In the investigation process, we did not detect any roles of the Singapore government in the possible breach of the licensing requirement,” Tang said. “So the Singapore government from the very beginning has not been the subject of investigation.”
He denied the vehicles were held longer than they should have been for the investigation.
“Two months is not a particularly long time, taking into account the various specific requirement of the Import and Export Ordinance,” he said, adding that the list of items was very long.
