US Surprised offer for Singaporeans over North Korean Oil Shipments
Washington: The US offered $5 million on Thursday to find a Singaporean businessman accused of violating North Korean sanctions, including through oil shipments on a tanker seized last year.
The award comes as the US calls for strict enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea after it launched a barrage of missiles, one of which landed close to South Korean waters.
The State Department offered up to $5 million in exchange for information on Kwek Kee Seng, blaming him for numerous fuel deliveries to North Korea, ship-to-ship transfers, and money laundering through front companies.
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In 2021, federal prosecutors in New York issued an arrest warrant for Kwek, a year after Cambodia seized one of his oil tankers, the M/T Courageous, on a US request for alleged sanctions violations.
Kwek, 62, is the owner of Singapore's Swanseas Port Services shipping company, a close US ally.
According to the State Department's Rewards for Justice programme, his exact location is unknown, but he has been identified as being in North Korea, Cambodia, Taiwan, Thailand, Cameroon, and the tiny Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
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