Acquired Pangolin Scales and Antelope Horns for "Whitewashing" for Resale, Valued at More Than 100 Million Yuan, 7 Shareholders and Employees of Beijing Sanhe Pharmaceutical Company Were on Trial
2020/12/20 19:35:00 本站

A Beijing pharmaceutical company was accused of fraudulently obtaining administrative permits from wildlife authorities, forging a large number of special logos for wildlife products, and "whitewashing" tens of thousands of kilograms of illegally acquired pangolin scales and antelope horn products, and then resell them for profit. The value of the seized wild animal products exceeded 100 million yuan. On December 17, Beijing's first case of a formal pharmaceutical company defrauding administrative licenses to illegally purchase and sell precious and endangered wildlife products was heard in Xicheng Court. Because of the significant social impact of the case, the Xicheng Procuratorate appointed the deputy chief prosecutor to support the public prosecution. The Xicheng Court also formed a seven-person collegiate panel with the deputy chief as the presiding judge to hear the case.

 

The pharmaceutical company involved in the case was established in 2011 and mainly produces and processes Chinese herbal medicine pieces. This time, the company was charged with a crime because it was suspected of illegally buying and selling pangolin scales and antelope horns, two precious and endangered wildlife products.

 

China’s Wildlife Protection Law clearly prohibits the sale, purchase and use of national key protected wild animals and their products. If there is a real need due to special circumstances, it shall be approved by the wildlife protection department of the provincial government, and special signs shall be obtained and used in accordance with regulations. Some of the Chinese medicinal materials operated by pharmaceutical companies are wild animal products, which cannot be bought or sold without authorization, and must be approved by administrative approval.

 

Guo, a shareholder of the pharmaceutical company, confessed that in 2015, the company claimed that someone carried 5000 kg of pangolin scales to apply for administrative approval in the name of the holding company. But in fact, the person who bought the shares was actually the gatekeeper of the company and had no scales at all. The pharmaceutical company defrauded the sales quota of 5,000 kilograms of pangolin scales.

 

In 2017, when the pharmaceutical company merged with another pharmacy, it fictitious in the audit report that the merged pharmacy had a stock of more than 6,000 kilograms of pangolin scales. Once again, defrauded more than 6,000 kilograms of pangolin scales for administrative permission.

 

The person in charge of the workshop of the pharmaceutical company confessed that when the company applied for an administrative license, the staff of the wildlife protection station had to come to the warehouse to check the packaging. The company did not have so many real products, and the company leader asked him to use some empty boxes to handle the inspection.

 

According to the prosecutor’s allegations, while obtaining administrative licenses by fraud, the pharmaceutical company purchased a large number of pangolin scales and antelope horn products from multiple suppliers. From 2016 to 2018, the pharmaceutical company illegally acquired more than 9,890 kg of pangolin scales and more than 960 kg of antelope horn products.

 

Although the source of these goods is not correct, the only way to pay for the goods is through "off-book accounts", using the personal bank cards of company employees to pay for the goods. But with the fraudulent administrative license, these illegally purchased medicinal materials were "washed out" when the pharmaceutical company sold them to the outside world again. According to the indictment, the pharmaceutical company purchased more than 9,890 kilograms of pangolin scales for a transaction value of more than 29.63 million yuan, while the transaction value of selling more than 7,440 kilograms of pangolin scales to other pharmaceutical companies was more than 45.31 million yuan. The profit on the price difference can be seen.

 

Last year, the public security agency seized more than 1,100 kilograms of unsold pangolin products and more than 830 kilograms of antelope horn products in the pharmaceutical company. After appraisal and evaluation, the seized pangolin products were CITES Appendix I species, worth nearly 6 million yuan; Antelope horn products are national first-class protected wild animals with a value of more than 110 million yuan.

 

The prosecution believes that the illegal purchase and sale of precious and endangered wild animal products by the pharmaceutical company by fraudulently obtaining administrative licenses is particularly serious. Several defendants such as Chen and Guo, as shareholders of the unit and specific managers of finance, warehouses, workshops, etc., belong to the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons in the unit’s crimes, all should be held criminally responsible for the crime of illegally purchasing and selling precious and endangered wild animal products.

 

In court, although multiple defendants and witnesses stated that Chen, a shareholder of the pharmaceutical company, personally contacted and purchased pangolin scales and antelope horn products, Chen himself insisted that he was only in charge of outreach and had not participated in illegal business. The other six defendants all agreed to the prosecution’s charges and pleaded guilty.

 

After a day of trial, the collegiate panel announced an adjournment and set a day to pronounce the verdict.

 

According to http://tingshen.court.gov.cn/live/16282837 , the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) pangolin working group found that the name of the defendant pharmaceutical company is Sanhe Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. According to the above: “From 2016 to 2018, the pharmaceutical company illegally acquired more than 9,890 kg of pangolin scales and more than 960 kg of antelope horn products.”, are the sellers of the “more than 9,890 kg of pangolin scales” also suspected of illegal sales?


Chinese articles for reference:

https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_10448569


https://k.sina.cn/article_1893892941_70e2834d02000wadt.html?from=news&subch=onews


By / Maggie


https://www.paypal.me/CBCGDFChina


http://www.cbcgdf.org/English/ConfirmDonaTion/0.html