Dutch-built super yachts are being re-sold to tax haven buyers

DutchNews, November 10, 2017

The Galactica Star in Barcelona. Photo: Ralf Roletschek / roletschek.at 

Luxury yachts built in Dutch shipyards are being sold to suspect buyers around the world through tax havens, Trouw and the Financieele Dagblad reported on Friday. 

The dubious yacht transactions were revealed through an investigation being carried out into the Paradise Papers by the two Dutch newspapers . 

The documents reveal at least two instances in which the actual buyer of a Dutch-built yacht has been protected. In one case, the purchase money was obtained, the US justice department maintains, by corruption. 

The Dutch land registry, which covers fishing and inland water pleasure boats as well as housing, said that registration of luxury yachts should be made compulsory to reduce the risk that yachts can be used to cover up money laundering. 

The Paradise Papers contain information culled from legal advisor Appleby and the Estera trust office in Bermuda which came into the hands of German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and then via the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to the media worldwide. 

Appleby has been involved in the registration or management of hundreds of ships of which one hundred could be classified as super yachts: vessels of up to 150 metres in length and worth hundreds of millions of euros. 

Galactica Star

One of these is the Galactica Star (65 metres and valued at €82m) which was sold in the summer of 2013 by Dutch shipbuilder Heesen. The buyer was Speedwave 65, a company recently set in the British Virgin Islands by an individual who chose to be anonymous. 

Speedwave sold the yacht on almost immediately to another Virgin Island entity Earnshaw Associates Inc, owned by the Nigerian oil magnate Kola Aluko who allegedly obtained his money illegally. Heesen said it was unaware of the resale of the Galactica to Aluko at the time. 

Shipyards also fall under legislation aimed at preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism, like banks and trust offices They must establish the identity of the actual owner and the aim of any given transaction. 

Superyacht seized in Den Helder port as part of corruption probe

DutchNews, April 14, 2017

A 75 meter long superyacht, worth €113m, has been placed in sequestration in Den Helder port after a judge in Zwolle ruled that the vessel be held while its owner is investigated under charges of corruption in Switzerland and France. 

The ‘Ebony Shine’ is owned by Teodoro Obiang, son of the long-serving president of the tiny West African state of Equitorial Guinea, the NRC said on Friday. 

Teodoro Obiang is being charged on a number of points including money laundering and stealing from the state treasury. The yacht was seized while it was in a Den Helder dockyard for regular maintenance. Obiang claims it is the property of the state of Equitorial Guinea. 

Obiang serves as vice president of the country and has an annual salary of €100,000. Equitorial Guinea has a population of 800,000 and is a former colony of Spain. 

The vessel, built by Feadship in Makkum, has two jaccuzis, a spa, a pool and gym, a helipad, several jetskis and a cinema seating 12. 

Equatorial Africa is one of the richest countries in Africa due to its oil income which amounts to about €3.7bn a year. Only 2% of of this goes for health care and 3% to education. Apart from a small elite, most of the country lives on less than €2 a day.

South Korea raises sunken ferry: Yonhap

Yahoo – AFP, Hwang Sunghee, March 22, 2017

Barges during a salvage project to bring the sunken Sewol ferry back to
surface in the sea off the southwestern island of Jindo (AFP Photo/Handout)

Salvage operators raised part of South Korea's sunken Sewol ferry early Thursday, Yonhap news agency reported, nearly three years after the disaster killed more than 300 people and dealt a crippling blow to now-ousted president Park Geun-Hye.

Emotional parents of victims -- the vast majority of the dead in the country's worst-ever maritime tragedy were schoolchildren -- had earlier urged people to pray for a successful recovery.

"As of 3:45 am (1845 GMT Wednesday), part of the Sewol's structure, which is believed to be its stabilizer, can be seen above the water with the naked eye," an official from the Oceans and Fisheries Ministry was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

It is expected to take around eight days to fully raise the ship and move it to the port of Mokpo, and another four days to move it onto a dry dock, he added.

The vessel was lying more than 40 metres (130 feet) below the waves off southwestern South Korea and the operation, originally scheduled for last year, had been pushed back several times because of adverse weather.

It is thought that nine bodies still unaccounted for may be trapped inside the sunken ship, and raising the ferry intact has been a key demand of the victims' families.

Raising the Sewol sunken ferry (AFP Photo/Laurence CHU , Gal ROMA)

"I am a mother who just really misses her daughter. Please pray for us so we can go home with Eun-Hwa," said Lee Keum-Hui, one of a handful of relatives who have been living in makeshift homes at Paengmok, the closest port to the wreck, since the accident.

"We will be grateful if you pray with us so that the last remaining victims can return to their families," she said, breaking down.

Other bereaved family members have been maintaining a vigil at a camp on a hilltop on Donggeochado, the nearest island to the site, just 1.5 kilometres away.

Yellow ribbons -- a symbol for the victims of the disaster -- hang on nearby trees, their colour faded by the course of time.

"My heart is pounding," said father Jung Seong-Wook of the decision to go ahead with the lift. "I have mixed feelings that I cannot put into words. I'm also a little scared."

In a tense atmosphere during the day, another father nervously watched through binoculars, trying to get a glimpse of the operation. Some 50 bereaved family members went out to sea by boat to watch the proceedings, he added.

Two enormous barges were positioned on either side of the 6,825-tonne ship and air bags inserted for the salvage effort, which is being led by a Chinese consortium.

Beams were installed by digging through the seabed underneath the wreck, which was lying on its side, and cables attached to bring it painstakingly towards the surface.

Once two-thirds of it is exposed, a semi-submersible will be positioned underneath to raise it out of the water and transport it Mokpo to carry out investigations and search for the missing.

A monk bowed in prayer before a memorial to victims of the Sewol ferry 

disaster, at Paengmok harbour on the southern island of Jindo (AFP 

Photo/Ed Jones)

Wilful negligence

A senior official from the maritime ministry said it took three hours to raise the wreck one metre off the seabed in what was initially a feasibility test.

The ministry then decided to go ahead with the full lifting, it said in a statement. The operation is expected to take three days.

The disaster and its aftermath gripped South Korea and overshadowed the presidency of Park, who stayed at her residence for seven hours in the crucial initial phase of the sinking.

She has never specified what she was doing, sparking wild rumours including a tryst and cosmetic surgery.

A permanent Sewol protest site targeting her was subsequently set up in the centre of Seoul, with effigies of the head of state on display alongside pictures of the dead schoolchildren.

Negligence over the sinking was one of the grounds for which parliament impeached Park in December, although the constitutional court ruled that it was not an impeachable offence when it upheld her dismissal on other charges earlier this month.

Donggeochado island has a population of only around 300, but the once-a-day ferry to it was packed with reporters Wednesday and at least one broadcast truck.

Investigations into the disaster, in which 304 people died, concluded it was largely man-made -- the cumulative result of an illegal redesign, an overloaded cargo bay, inexperienced crew and a questionable relationship between the ship operators and state regulators.

Even though the vessel took around three hours to sink, those on board were never ordered to evacuate, while the crew escaped to safety.

Captain Lee Jun-Seok was sentenced to life in prison for "murder through wilful negligence" and 14 other crew members given terms ranging from two to 12 years.

South Korea's sunken Sewol ferry moves a step closer to reaching port https://t.co/cObM847pqu pic.twitter.com/9uVD4yYnhs

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 25, 2017

Related Article:

Captain sentenced to jail in Sewol ferry case

Jokowi, in Rare Tirade, Threatens to Fire Officials Over Cargo Delays at Tanjung Priok

Jakarta Globe, Jun 17, 2015

President Joko Widodo telling officials and reporters what’s what, during a visit to
 Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port on Wednesday. The president threatened to fire
 officials responsible for the notorious delays in moving cargo through the port.
(Antara Photo/Widodo S. Jusuf)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo gave an uncharacteristic outburst during an inspection of Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port on Wednesday, threatening to fire officials responsible for the lengthy delays in moving containers through the port.

“The process takes too long because the people handling it don’t want to move fast,” he told an entourage of officials and reporters.

He noted that Tanjung Priok’s dwell time, or the amount of time a container spends at the port before moving on, was an average of 5.5 days – the longest in Asia, he said. He also said some items took up to a month to clear customs and excise.

Joko added he was well aware of the legendary delays at the port, which handles two-thirds of Indonesia’s international trade, from his experience running a furniture export business, and threatened to fire any officials responsible for the problem.

“Let it be known that if things get [even more] difficult, I can fire the director general, the people on the ground, even the minister. If that’s how you work that’s [what will happen],” he said.

He did not specify which director general or minister he was referring to. The director general of customs and excise is Agung Kuswandono, whose office falls under the purview of the Finance Ministry, headed by Bambang Brodjonegoro. The trade and transportation ministries, which also have a hand in operations at the port, are headed respectively by Rachmat Gobel and Jonan Ignasius.

Joko said it was apparent that no one involved in the process – from loading and unloading containers to clearing them through customs – understood their duties or responsibilities, and chastised the officials around him for glossing over the problems.

“Don’t say everything’s fine. The reality is that [Indonesia] is lagging far behind. So who? Customs or trade? Who should I be speaking to?” he said, repeating the question seven more times.

There was no response from any of the officials.

“Which agency takes the longest time [processing] exports and imports?” the president went on. “There’s gotta be one. So I’m asking again, which one? Fess up, and we’ll fix it.”

Again there was no response.

Joko said the average dwell time at Tanjung Priok should be brought down to 4.7 days if Indonesia was to be competitive with Singapore and Malaysia.

“I want this port to be faster, more efficient, to give the best import and export services, because our business is the service business,” he said.

Scores of Seafood Slaves in Indonesia, Officials Turned Blind Eye: Report

Jakarta Globe, Tri Listiyarini, Apr 05, 2015

Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti says she will closely monitor
 fishing companies operating in Indonesia to prevent slave labor. (Reuters
Photo/Tim Wimborne)

Jakarta. Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti pledged to closely monitor fishing companies operating in Indonesia after a year-long Associated Press investigation revealed at least one Indonesian firm — and likely many more — using slave labor.

Susi said she was disturbed to learn Pusaka Benjina Resources had been keeping 327 workers, mainly from Myanmar, working in captivity without pay, on pain of torture or even death.

Her office has since shut down the company, based in Benjina, in Maluku’s Aru Islands district.

“We will launch an investigation; we will sanction [those involved],” the minister said on the sidelines of her visit to a fishing village in Pangandaran, West Java.

“In Benjina, even though the victims are foreigners, Indonesia felt it must take action because [the case] happened within Indonesia’s jurisdiction,” she said.

Susi said her office quickly inspected other fishing companies operating in Benjina and found 1,185 fishermen working there, mostly from Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, in slave-like conditions.

The minister said there was rampant evidence that other firms in the area were using slave labor — and had been for years.

With the help of sympathetic locals, the AP interviewed the Myanmar workers, who said they were forced to work 22 hours a day, whipped with toxic stingray tails, denied any pay, and barred from returning to their home country or tell anyone about their plight. Some were put in cages.

The director general for monitoring maritime resources, Asep Burhanuddin,  said the ministry formed a task force with the local prosecutors, immigration offices, the Indonesian Navy and National Police.

On Friday, days after the story broke, task force officials deployed to Benjina for a crackdown.

“We were able to confirm that there are slavery practices [at PBR],” Asep told Detik on Sunday. “Some were electrocuted for the tiniest mistake like falling to sleep. This is inhumane.”

The workers, some of whom have been slaves for nine years, were taken to the Tual, some 100 kilometers west of Aru Islands, where they were repatriated.

Company officials have been charged with human trafficking and violating the Manpower Law while the task force investigates who else may have been involved.

China officials dine on endangered salamander: reports

Yahoo – AFP, 27 Jan 2015

File photo of a Chinese giant salamander in a glass tank during the China International

Conservation festival in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan province, in 2005 (AFP Photo)

Beijing (AFP) - Chinese officials feasted on a critically endangered giant salamander and turned violent when journalists photographed the luxury banquet, according to media reports Tuesday on the event which appeared to flout Beijing's austerity campaign.

The 28 diners included senior police officials from the southern city of Shenzhen, the Global Times said.

"In my territory, it is my treat," it quoted a man in the room as saying.

The giant salamander is believed by some Chinese to have anti-ageing properties, but there is no orthodox evidence to back the claim.

A waitress serves shark fin's soup at a 

restaurant in Guangzhou, southern China's 

Guangdong province, on August 10, 2014

(AFP Photo/Johannes Eisele)

The species is classed as "critically endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of threatened species, which says the population has "declined catastrophically over the last 30 years".

"Commercial over-exploitation for human consumption is the main threat to this species," the IUCN said.

The Global Times cited the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily, which said its journalists were beaten up when their identities were discovered by the diners.

One was kicked and slapped, another had his mobile phone forcibly taken, while the photographer was choked, beaten up and had his camera smashed, the reports said.

A total of 14 police have been suspended and an investigation launched into the incident, added the Global Times.

One of the Shenzhen diners provided the salamander and said it had been captive-bred, according to the report.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched a much-publicised austerity drive for the ruling classes, including a campaign for simple meals with the catchphrase “four dishes and one soup”.

The ruling Communist Party also says it is cracking down on the consumption of endangered species, including shark's fin.

China's legislature last April approved a law including prison sentences for people caught eating rare wild animals.

The Chinese government considers 420 wild animal species as rare or endangered, state media previously said.

A chef prepares shark fins for cooking, Aug. 6. (File photo/CNS)

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AirAsia, Indonesia and Effective Crisis Management

Jakarta Globe, Bloomberg, Dec 31, 2014

President Joko Widodo on board a Hercules plane taking part in the
search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, on Tuesday.(Antara Photo/Andika Wahyu)

In his run for president this year, Joko Widodo pledged to bring greater openness and accountability to Indonesia. As his administration faces its first international crisis, the mysterious crash of an AirAsia jet, he’s proving to be a man of his word.

You can tell a lot about a nation from its response to great tragedy, whether it’s Japan’s 2011 Fukushima crisis, Malaysia’s lost Boeing 777 in March or South Korea’s deadly ferry accident in April. So far, Joko has performed admirably.

Since news broke on Sunday that an Airbus A320 flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore vanished with 162 people on board, Joko has coordinated search-and-rescue efforts, demanded a review of air safety regulations and called on weather agencies to provide timelier information. His government is giving steady updates, and Joko has sought help from Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Australia and, remarkably, China and the US in finding Flight QZ8501.

In contrast, last spring, Malaysia was widely criticized for the secrecy and paranoia that surrounded its search for a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared with 239 people aboard. Welcoming US and Chinese military ships into Indonesia’s orbit speaks to Joko’s confidence as a leader.

Let’s hope this is a harbinger of future competence. Joko is the fifth president since dictator Suharto was ousted in 1998 but the first true political outsider to run Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Because he’s not a member of a dynastic family or the military, he isn’t beholden to vested interests looking to siphon the benefits of Indonesia’s 5 percent growth. That gives him latitude to dismantle the kleptocracy that Suharto built during his 32-year reign and raise Indonesia’s competitiveness.

As governor of Jakarta, starting in 2012, Joko brought a surprising level of transparency. He moved budget procurement and tax collection processes online. He’s now working to make national government services electronic to reduce opportunities for graft and improve efficiency. Opening up the process of granting licenses for developing infrastructure, mines and plantations alone would do much to clean up the nation’s political and business climate.

Indonesia’s aviation industry also has long cried out for greater oversight. Its carriers, air traffic controllers and the skies around the archipelago of 250 million people are notorious for their regulatory laxity. As recently as 2009, state carrier Garuda was banned from European Union airspace. That laxity is a product of decades of cronyism and institutional neglect.

While Joko’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made inroads against graft, Indonesia’s still ranks behind Djibouti and Argentina and a sober 22 rungs below India in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index. The daylight Joko wants to shine on the government is needed to attract more foreign investment and ensure that scarce revenues are spent on education, health care and poverty programs.

The openness and assertiveness with which Joko has responded to Flight QZ8501 gives me reason to hope that Indonesia will be prepared for whatever comes its way.

William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist based in Tokyo and writes on economics, markets and politics throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

President Joko Widodo, center, talks to the head of Indonesia’s national search
 and rescue agency, Soelistyo, left, and Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating
 Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, right, shortly before a news conference
 about missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in Jakarta, on Dec. 29, 2014.
 (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

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Interpol probing missing Kiribati fund donated by Taiwan

Want China Times, CNA and Staff Reporter 2014-10-16

A press conference held by Taiwan's foreign ministry on the missing
aid fund in Taipei, Oct. 15. (Photo/CNA)

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati has launched an investigation into a missing aid fund donated by Taiwan earlier this year, a case in which Interpol has involved itself, officials said Wednesday.

Taiwan gave the money to Kiribati to help it purchase a landing craft to improve transportation around the nation. But Radio New Zealand International reported Tuesday that the aid fund has gone missing and Taiwan is demanding an explanation of what happened to the US$1.5 million.

The Kiribati Independent reported that the Kiribati government said "the money was wired to an overseas account, but apparently not that of the boat builder." Kiribati's commerce minister said that "the money has been stolen and there was nothing the government could do, but Kiribati police are now investigating," the report added.

Elliott Charng, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the initial results of the probe will be released soon, without giving a specific timeframe.

Charng said that in addition to the judicial probe launched by the Pacific nation, which has formal ties with Taiwan, Interpol has also involved itself in the investigation. Preliminary results have already been produced and will be released at an appropriate time, he said at a news conference called by Taiwanese lawmakers over the issue.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Kao said separately Wednesday that the funds consisted of A$1.7 million (US$1.5 million) donated to the nation of 100,000 people at a ceremony in January. She said Taiwan's embassy in Kiribati has checked with the government there on the progress of the aid project, as Taiwan regularly keeps track of aid given to its diplomatic allies.

"They had also reported to us on the process of the project," Kao added, though the regular checks were apparently not enough to prevent the funds from going missing.

Taiwan has expressed concerns about the lost aid fund and is seeking follow-up information from Kiribati, she said.

The Kiribati government has formed a task force to look into lapses in internal management of the money and will punish anyone found accountable, she said.

Kiribati is one of Taiwan's 22 diplomatic allies, most of which are Pacific island nations and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Badly decomposed body found in South Korea is fugitive ferry tycoon, say police

Businessman Yoo Byung-un headed family that owns operator of Sewol ferry which sank in April, killing 300

The Guardian, Agencies, Tuesday 22 July 2014

Policemen transport a stretcher with a body believed to be that of Yoo
Byung-un Photograph: Yonhap/Reuters

South Korean police said on Tuesday that a body found last month in the south of the country belonged to a fugitive businessman who headed the family that owned the operator of a ferry that capsized in April, killing more than 300 people.

Police said at a press conference that a badly decomposed body found on June 12 had been identified by DNA evidence as well as fingerprints as that of Yoo Byung-un, who had been the subject of the country's largest manhunt.

The discovery ended a massive, months-long manhunt for the 73-year-old billionaire whose family owns the Sewol ferry operator, Chonghaejin Marine Co.

The heavily decomposed corpse was recovered on June 12 from a plum field in Suncheon, a city 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Seoul.

Tests matched the DNA of the body to Yoo's elder brother, leading police to believe the body was that of the reclusive billionaire.Yoo went on the run shortly after the 6,825-tonne Sewol capsized and sank on April 16 with 476 people on board, including 325 high school students.

The number of confirmed dead currently stands at 294, with 10 victims still unaccounted for.

The ferry disaster stunned South Korea and unleashed widespread public anger, as it emerged that incompetence, corruption and greed had all contributed to the scale of the disaster.

President Park Geun-Hye and her administration have been bitterly criticised for their response to the tragedy.

The captain and 14 surviving crew members are currently on trial, some of them on charges of wilful homicide which carry the death penalty.

A summons was issued for Yoo shortly after the sinking, but he refused to surrender to police and eventually went on the run.

A reward of 500 million won ($490,000) was offered for information leading to his capture, and 100 million won for that of his eldest son, Yoo Dae-Kyun.

Yoo was wanted for questioning on possible charges of embezzlement and criminal negligence, related to regulatory violations.

Many of his family members have been arrested, including his wife and his brother. A daughter is fighting an extradition bid from Paris.

Earlier this month, South Korean prosecutors filed embezzlement charges against his 71-year-old wife, Kwon Yun-Ja.

The charges were unrelated to the ferry sinking, and involved the alleged embezzlement of money from a splinter religious group established by Kwon's father.

In June, thousands of police officers conducted a raid on a major church complex looking for Yoo.

A North Jakarta Fishing Community Learns How They Are Being Cheated

Jakarta Globe, Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata, November 18, 2013

A worker walks between dried fish during dry fish processing at Marunda
beach in North Jakarta, on Sept. 2, 2013. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

Members of the Muara Angke fishing community in North Jakarta make their living from the sea, but it is a living that many residents say is increasingly at risk from pollution and environmental degradation.

So when one of Indonesia’s corporate law firms recently organized a class in Muara Angke, residents packed a community hall to learn about fishery and environmental laws, and to be briefed on city bylaws and regulations for running a small business, including the process to secure a business permit (SIUP) and certification for home-based food businesses.

Tri Sutrisno, a youth activist in the area, welcomed the initiative and said it offered important information that could benefit residents.

He said, for example, that residents had learned that obtaining a SIUP should be free, as regulated in a 2012 Jakarta bylaw, as opposed to the Rp 1 million ($86) or more that residents reported being regularly asked to pay in the past.

“The process is apparently quite simple and should not be as complicated as we have encountered,” he said after participating in the class, organized by the law firm Soewito Suhardiman Eddymurthy Kardono (SSEK), along with 75 other residents at the hall.

“I also found out from the session that the docking fee for a 30 to 50-ton fishing boat is actually only Rp 75,000, according to a city bylaw. In reality, we have to pay an exorbitant fee of up to Rp 1.5 million every time we dock our vessel,” Tri said.

Though the deeply ingrained bureaucratic culture of red tape and illegal fees will be hard to eliminate, Tri said, at least residents were now more aware of the laws and regulations that affect their lives and their livelihoods.

That, according to Denny Rahmansyah — a partner at SSEK who helped organize the event on Oct. 19 — was the goal. He said they did not expect an immediate sea change, but the firm wanted to give the community the knowledge that would allow them to begin improving their lives.

Another partner at the firm, Dyah Soewito, agreed that it was important to take that first step of familiarizing the community with the law.

“SSEK came to Muara Angke and organized this seminar because understanding the law, realizing what is expected and required of them, and of officials, is the first step for residents in fighting for and obtaining their rights,” she said.

Basso Tawang, a retired fisherman, said understanding the law was important for pushing back against the environmental degradation of Jakarta Bay that has made it difficult for fishermen to earn a living.

Basso, who was born in South Sulawesi but moved to Jakarta with his family when he was young, said he and the other Muara Angke residents now knew more about gathering evidence of environmental damage and filing complaints with the appropriate government agencies.

“Jakarta Bay is heavily polluted and it is no longer the pond of milk as described by Koes Plus in their song,” Basso said, referring to the song “Kolam Susu,” or “Pond of Milk,” by the Indonesian band. The song talks about the riches of Indonesia’s waters, with fishermen able to count on a fruitful harvest even when using just a net or fishing pole.

The legal session was held in cooperation with the North Jakarta Police, who spread the word about the class to the local community, which is administratively unrecognized by the city, and encouraged residents to attend and empower themselves to run small-scale fishery businesses.

Head of the Sunda Kelapa subdistrict police, Anton Elfrino Trisanto said police fielded numerous complaints from residents about business deals gone wrong.

Salim Gunawan, a community leader, said he had been victimized by his former business partners.

“I used to run my own flower crab wholesale business but I was conned out of money and went bankrupt,” he said, adding that it was the result of blindly trusting his partners without having the proper legal knowledge of how to run a business.

Anton said the police welcomed the chance to empower the Muara Angke community. “It could help them in doing business,” he said.

China graft crackdown hits Hong Kong's 'Dried Seafood Street'

Google – AFP, Celine Ge (AFP), 25 August 2013

A customer talks to a shopkeeper at a store selling shark fin in

Hong Kong, September 5, 2012 (AFP/File, Philippe Lopez)

HONG KONG — In a narrow Hong Kong street filled with the tang of dried sea creatures, shopkeepers are blaming China's recent corruption crackdown for falling sales of expensive banquet foods such as shark fin and abalone.

Such items have fallen off the menu since China's new leadership came to power demanding austerity from Communist Party and military officials as a means of reigning in graft and dampening public anger over corruption.

Suppliers, restaurants, and hotels in the trading hub of Hong Kong all say the loss of appetite from the mainland has thinned out sales in a market looking for a portion of China's estimated annual 300 billion yuan (US$49 billion) expenditure on state-funded banquets.

On Hong Kong's "Dried Seafood Street", the centre of trade in dried delicacies, shopkeeper Leung Wing-chiu told AFP sales were down 20 percent at a time when increased ethical awareness over shark fin and rising rents are pressuring business.

"Beijing's frugality campaign has driven money out of my pocket," said the 94-year-old, who is also the Dried Sea Food & Grocery Merchants Association president.

A man works in a shop selling shark fin and

 dried seafood in Hong Kong, September 5,

2012 (AFP/File, Philippe Lopez)

"Demand from mainland buyers, especially hotels and restaurants, has shrunk a lot. This is particularly true for high-end goods such as dried abalone, shark fins and bird's nest."

Two catering companies listed on the southern Chinese city's stock exchange even cited the government's emphasis on frugality as they issued profit warnings to shareholders last month.

Leung said China's state-funded banquet culture was a key source of revenue, and while the economic slowdown had affected business over the past few years, "the situation has got a lot worse since the new leadership ascended to power".

Chinese officials have long held lavish liquor-drenched receptions as a way of building business relationships, greasing the wheels of power, and showing off wealth and status.

The Jiu San Society, one of China's eight legally-recognised non-Communist political parties, last year called for a curb on government spending on such banquets, which it estimated at $300 billion a year. Other scholars put the figure even higher.

And in June, President Xi Jinping launched a "thorough cleanup" of the ruling Communist Party, vowing to target extravagance and waste.

The Central Military Commission had already banned lavish banquets for high-ranking officers at the end of last year, while party officials were handed similar new rules.

Former high-flying Chinese politician Bo Xilai is currently on trial for corruption and revelations about private jet flights and rare animal meats have held Chinese readers spellbound.

Zhu Jiangnan, China Studies coordinator at the University of Hong Kong, said banquets were in a "grey area" of corruption.

"Actually, in China, the word 'corruption' (fubai) is linked not only with... graft, bribery, and embezzlement, but also unhealthy tendencies... such as extravagance and waste," she told AFP in an email.

Wong Hiu-wan, a shopkeeper selling bird's nests, which have been used in Chinese cooking for centuries, blamed the directives from Beijing for a slowdown in business.

"Now, we have to count more on local consumers, because orders from mainland hotels and restaurants have gone down dramatically," he said.

And Yeung Wai-sing, the chairman of the Association of Hong Kong Catering Services Management Ltd, also had reason to regret China's newfound abstemiousness.

"For years, this traditional business has been fuelled by orders from mainlanders, who consider dried seafood from Hong Kong to be premium in quality," said Yeung.

"But things didn't turn out well this year."

Two Hong Kong-listed catering giants, Tang Palace (China) Holdings and Xiao Nan Guo Restaurants Holdings Ltd, both issued profit warnings in July linked to the crackdown.

A waiter walks past a display of dried

abalone available on the menu of a

restaurant in Hong Kong, August 23,

2013 (AFP, Philippe Lopez)

Tang Palace largely blamed "the issuance of a set of regulations and restrictions to promote frugality and curb waste by the Chinese government, casting an impact on certain customer groups' expenditure".

Xiao Nan Guo said its first-half profit was hit by "the prolonged austerity campaign launched by the Chinese government to curb lavish spending and entertainment".

Others say traditional foods were already losing their attraction.

"The Chinese are turning their eyes towards Western and environmentally-friendly food rather than traditional banquet favourites like abalone and shark fin," said Ren Guoqiang of consultancy Roland Berger & Partner.

Bruce Shou, a student and food enthusiast who routinely visits Hong Kong from Hangzhou to dine at high-end restaurants, agreed.

"Sashimi, beefsteaks and foie gras look fancier to me, whereas abalones remind me of something old-fashioned and bureaucratic," he said.

On top of environmental campaigning against products such as shark fin and Hong Kong's eye-watering rents, the graft crackdown is adding to the pressure on businesses along "Dried Seafood Street".

"2013 is a tough year for us," Leung said.

Whaling commission agrees to anti-corruption reforms

Deutsche Welle, 14 July 2011  

Sperm whales are among target
species for Japan's research whaling

The International Whaling Commission passed a measure intended to increase transparency and address allegations of vote-buying. But this comes at the cost of scuttling a proposal to increase civil society participation.

On the Channel Island of Jersey, the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission, or IWC, was dominated by discussion over the proposal to eliminate cash payments for membership dues.

Proposed by the United Kingdom and backed by a number of countries including Germany, the proposal passed through a rare consensus decision.

Conservation groups hailed the passage. "It's a huge success," said Nikolas Entrup, head of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in Germany, WDCS.

German WDCS head
Nikolas Entrup

But Entrup also criticized the commission, and especially a European Union bloc within it, for its failure to allow non-governmental organizations greater participation.

And polarization within the commission is affecting its ability to make decisions, said Despina Simons of the European Bureau for Conservation and Development.

As the commission's deliberations concluded, some NGOs continue to question both the legitimacy of current whaling, and the commission's effectiveness in controlling it.

Vote-buying

It's believed that payment of membership dues in cash allowed wealthy countries with strong pro- or anti-whaling interests to purchase the votes of other nations.

Japan, a country with an appetite for seafood, including whales, was accused of having bought the votes of smaller – and poorer – nations.

An investigative report published in the Sunday Times claimed that Guinea, for example, not only receives financial support to vote on the IWC with Japan, but that Japan also recruited it onto the commission in the first place, in order to add to its voting power.

The report also alleges that Japan paid Guinea's nearly 9,000-euro membership fee to the commission, as well as covering travel costs.

The Sunday Times previously reported that the UK paid Belize's IWC dues of around 11,000 euros when its membership had lapsed. Belize then cast a decisive vote with an anti-whaling bloc.

Japanese academic Atsushi Ishii told Deutsche Welle that vote-buying was "very likely," but added, "I would not call it corruption."

More transparency, less participation

The 27-nation EU, acting as a bloc, helped win over the rare consensus decision for transparency in membership fees among the 89 countries that belong to the IWC.

Dues for the commission must now be paid via bank transfer from government accounts.

This will "very strongly prevent the selling of votes" on the commission, Entrup told Deutsche Welle.

Chris Butler-Stroud, chief executive the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, indicated that countries' knowing where the money has come from could allow for better conservation of whales. "There's no place for anyone to criticize that," Shroud said.

But the conservation group did criticize Denmark for blocking a part of the proposition aimed at allowing more civil society participation.

Greenland wants to increase aboriginal subsistence quotas
for humpack whales

The UK proposal had also suggested that NGOs be allowed to add their views at commission meetings more often. But Denmark, acting on behalf of Greenland, refused to agree to the membership fees point until the NGO speaking suggestion had been dropped.

"One country should not be able to block 26," Entrup asserted. "This absolutely goes against democracy and consensus," Entrup said, also pointing out that Greenland is not an EU member.

Greenland wants to increase quotas for indigenous subsistence whaling, although whale conservation groups claim this is a backdoor for it to gain commercial whaling capacity.

Status of whales

Many whale populations around the world were severely depleted by hunting over previous centuries.

The International Whaling Commission has upheld a ban on commercial whaling since 1982. Killing whales for scientific research purposes, and indigenous subsistence, continues to be allowed.

The IWC, in reviewing of the status of global whale stocks during this year's meeting, described how some populations of blue and humpback whales seem to be recovering, although other populations such as that of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale suffered a number of ship strikes and entanglements in 2010.

The scientific committee for the commission also reported that more data are needed on Antarctic minke whales, and a gray whale population off the coast of Russia where oil and gas activities are currently taking place. In addition, the IWC hailed a new survey program, which has begun its second ocean foray.

Critics say polarization within the
 commission adds to difficulties
in decision-making

A report this month from the Environmental Investigation Agency and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society asserts that an Icelandic company is engaging in illegal trade of whale products, in clear violation of international law and IWC rules.

"The whaling commission would be well advised to devote themselves to the problem of the annual killing of hundreds of whales and the increasing trade in whale products," WDCS head Entrup said.

That Iceland appears to not be heeding the ban on commercial whaling points to a deeper problem within the commission: its lack of enforcement power.

Crisis of legitimacy?

Despina Simons from the European Bureau for Conservation and Development said that polarization within the IWC is making it increasingly difficult for the commission to reach decisions.

"The whole thing has become so polarized, the pro-whaling and anti-whaling countries trying to bring in new countries, new votes," Simons told Deutsche Welle.

Areas of trust that have broken down add to friction, which distracts the commission from looking at conservation, Butler-Stroud said.

The polarization fuels a perception that the IWC is becoming dysfunctional – which affects its credibility as well, Ishii indicates.

"I think the countries still have some possibility to slow down the credibility deficit, by for example agreeing on a Southern Atlantic Sanctuary," Ishii stated.

In the end, Entrup thinks the commission must be given enforcement powers, which would make its decisions truly binding.

"The IWC needs to be given teeth – protection on paper isn't good enough."

Author: Sonya Angelica Diehn / Robin Powell

Editor: Anke Rasper

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