Company and two people accused of supplying Pokka and Nescafé drinks to North Korea through China

SINGAPORE: Two people and a company engaged in wholesale trade were charged on Thursday (May 9) with supplying banned products, including Pokka and Nescafe drinks, to North Korea.

The company is Eluva International, which faces 11 charges of supplying banned products to North Korea.

The two accused are Eugene Lee Chun Foong, director of Eluva International, and Koh Poh Choo, a woman linked to shipping company Skyline Shipping, who allegedly assisted Eluva International in its supply of prohibited goods. Both Eluva International and Skyline Shipping are registered in Singapore.

Lee, 49, and Koh, 57, are Singaporeans.

United Nations sanctions prohibit a person in Singapore from exporting or transferring designated luxury items to North Korea. These include caviar, cosmetics and perfumes, and electronic items such as televisions and smartphones.

Eluva International has nine charges under the United Nations (Sanctions – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Regulations 2010 and two under the Import and Export Regulations. Lee’s 11 positions mirror those of his company. He is said to have given his consent to the exports.

The charges allege that the company supplied about S$661,850 (US$488,094) worth of banned goods to a person in North Korea through Dalian, a city in eastern China near Pyongyang.

The products comprise more than S$512,000 worth of spirits, supplied between 2013 and 2017, and miscellaneous brands of perfumes worth S$2,950 supplied on March 17, 2013.

Apart from these, Eluva International allegedly supplied around S$146,900 worth of “designated luxury items”, including Pokka Melon Milk, Nescafe Coffee, Coffee Mate and Pokka Strawberry Milk to North Korea via Dalian from November 2017 to January of 2018.

Some of the charges named Lee, Irene Cho, Loh Mun Sang and the Rejo Beverages company as co-conspirators.

Rejo Beverages was fined S$160,000 and its director, Loh, jailed for six weeks in 2023 for supplying banned products to North Korea, according to a Straits Times report.

Koh faces six charges for crimes committed between 2017 and 2018. He is alleged to have helped Skyline Shipping abet the supply of prohibited goods and designated luxury items by Eluva International to North Korea through Dalian.

These consist of Pokka Strawberry Milk, Pokka Melon Milk, Nescafé Coffee and Coffee Mate, valued at around S$146,920, and a variety of spirit brands valued at around S$456,377.

All three cases will be heard again in court on June 6.

If a person is found guilty of contravening the UN Law, he or she may be sentenced to a prison sentence of up to 10 years or a fine of up to S$500,000, or both. A company can be fined up to S$1 million.

For a first-time violation of the Import and Export Regulations, a person may be sentenced to imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to S$100,000 or up to three times the value of the goods, whichever is greater, or both.