Singapore court rules North Korea-linked shipper guilty in illegal arms case

      

DEC 14, 201512:23 PM

[SINGAPORE] A district court in Singapore on Monday found Chinpo Shipping, a company implicated in an illegal shipment of arms on a North Korean container ship, guilty of two criminal charges.

Singapore-based Chinpo Shipping Company (Private) Ltd had been charged by the city-state for transferring financial assets or resources that could have been used to contribute to North Korea's weapon programmes, which are subject to UN sanctions. Chinpo Shipping was named by a UN report as helping arrange the shipment of Cuban fighter jets and missile parts that were bound for North Korea when they were seized in Panama in 2013.

The firm was also charged with carrying out a remittance business without a licence between 2009 and 2013.

The court is expected to hand down the sentence in late January.

Edmond Pereira, a lawyer representing Chinpo Shipping, said the verdict was "disappointing".

REUTERS