Singapore oil trader jailed for facilitating commercial fuel export to North Korea

An oil trader who met a ship agent over the course of his work later became the agent’s supplier when the former started his own trading company in 2018.

He would help the agent’s clients source petroleum products and sell the products to them at a higher price, before splitting his profits with the agent.

The oil broker, Justin Low Eng Yeow, later agreed to help procure gas oil, a type of commercial fuel, for another client in a deal that Kwek Kee Seng, the ship agent, had brokered.

Both Low, 56, and Kwek, 65, knew that the gas oil – a prohibited designated export item to Pyong­yang – would be bound for North Korea.

On March 21, Low pleaded guilty to three charges in contravention of the United Nations (Sanctions – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Regulations 2010, which is under the United Nations Act.

He was sentenced to 12 months and three weeks’ jail.

He also pleaded guilty, on behalf of his company ISA Energy, to three charges of directly transferring financial assets comprising US$900,000 (S$1.2 million), US$876,000 and US$1 million for the purchase of petroleum products that were later sent to North Korea.

Low’s company was given a fine of $280,000.

Low and ISA Energy each had six charges, similar to those they had pleaded guilty to, taken into consideration during sentencing.

Kwek, meanwhile, is due to return for a pretrial conference on April 8. He faces a total of 17 charges, including seven for supplying to North Korea a designated export item that is prohibited.

Court documents show that Low first met Kwek, who was a ship agent for one of the vessels that Low’s company had chartered, in 2016.

In 2018, Low set up ISA Energy, a wholesale trading company.

He stayed in touch with Kwek, eventually becoming a regular supplier of petroleum products to Kwek from January 2019.

In April 2019, Low agreed to purchase gas oil, intended for ship-to-ship transfers in the South China Sea, for Kwek’s client.

The pair then flew to Taiwan in July 2019 to meet the client, formalising their engagement of Low’s services.

During investigations, Low admitted that he had known the gas oil was bound for North Korea after the meeting in Taiwan. He went ahead with the agreement as he wanted to earn the commission.

Under the agreement, Low would purchase gas oil under Kwek’s direction before loading it onto a vessel. The first vessel would then conduct a ship-to-ship transfer to a second vessel in the South China Sea.

The gas oil would be transferred to a third vessel near Dalian, China, before sailing to Pyongyang.

Low paid a total of US$5.57 million to purchase an amount equivalent to 71,417 barrels of oil on three occasions, earning a total profit of US$50,264.73.

The prosecution said in its submissions that Low had supplied 14.3 per cent of Pyongyang’s annual allowance of gas oil, which has been capped at 500,000 barrels.

For each charge under the United Nations Act, an individual can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined or both.

In the case of a corporate entity, offenders can be fined up to $1 million for each charge under the Act.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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