Tuna-Law Violation Charged -- Singapore Businessman Accused Of Mislabeling Fish Shipment

A prominent Singapore businessman appeared in Seattle federal court yesterday on charges that he violated federal laws intended to protect dolphins.

Whay Ngiap Loy is accused of submitting false records relating to the importation of about 43,000 pounds of yellowfin tuna.

The September 1992 shipment instead was listed as being big-eye tuna. Loy is identified as the chief executive officer of Global Fisheries PTE Ltd., one of the largest seafood export companies in Singapore.

Since 1988, federal law has restricted yellowfin tuna imports to protect dolphins.

A popular and widely practiced commercial-fishing method for yellowfin tuna was to set fishing nets on schools of dolphins because yellowfin are know to swim with dolphin. The practice had the effect of killing large numbers of dolphins and other marine mammals.

A federal complaint charges Loy with two violations relating to the 1992 shipment to Clouston Foods Pacific Limited of Seattle, which reportedly paid a wholesale price of $53,000.

The shipment was handled by a Seattle Customs broker, George S. Bush & Company, according to the complaint. Neither the buyer nor the broker is charged.

The complaint states that when a U.S. Customs official visited Loy in Singapore last January to question him about the shipment, Loy admitted he knew it actually contained yellowfin tuna.

Loy told the agent his company "purposely mislabeled the shipment to get around U.S. Customs and U.S. fishery laws to gain entry for the product into U.S. commerce," the complaint states.

In court yesterday, Linda Severin, Loy's defense attorney, described the offense as "not especially serious."

Loy faces a statutory maximum of seven years in prison and fines totaling $500,000 if convicted, but Severin said his actual sentence is not likely to be more than 18 months. She asked that he be permitted to return to Singapore while the case is pending.

That request was opposed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Bartlett, who noted that the U.S. lacks an extradition treaty with Singapore to force Loy's return in case Loy decided to avoid prosecution.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Weinberg said he would decide the issue next week, and would consider increasing Loy's $100,000 bond to lessen the chances of his leaving.