Lawmaker Elizabeth Quat (“Quat”) plans to introduce a private member’s bill to the Legislative Council in the hope that it will give local authorities more power to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade.

This bill proposes to incorporate wildlife crimes into the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance (Cap.455) (“OSCO”). By doing so, Quat believes that this will enable the enforcement authorities to have more investigative powers to go after the criminal syndicates and masterminds behind the illegal wildlife trade.

As NGOS and legal experts have pointed out, the current laws in Hong Kong do not provide adequate protection to address wildlife crimes such as smuggling and trafficking. They identified in the past 18 months, authorities have made five record-breaking wildlife seizures with over 40,000 kg of endangered species in 2019.

The many loopholes in the legal system means Hong Kong remains to be a wildlife smuggling hub for organised criminal networks.

University of Hong Kong law professor Amanda Whitfort wholeheartedly supports this bill. She comments that authorities will be given more tools if wildlife crimes are to be incorporated under the OSCO. In particular:-

“It would allow the investigators to compel persons of interest to answer questions about the flows of money or the beneficiaries behind companies or the persons who are involved.”

 Further, she said that investigators will be able to go further, and “therefore trace the money and prosecute the people who are much higher up the chain than the mules at the bottom.”

Quat hopes that this proposal of the bill can create pressure for the government to take the issue of wildlife crimes more seriously. She states that:-

“Maybe we might not be able to get it done within this year. But at least we kick it off, and if the government picks it up, and the Security Bureau picks it up and it becomes a government bill, it will be much faster. Even if we cannot complete it within this year, hopefully the amendment can be done within the next term.”

Most smuggling offences in Hong Kong are prosecuted under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (Cap. 586). While under Schedule 1 of OSCO, investigators can look into whether money laundering was involved in the wildlife crime, the additional wildlife offences suggested by Quat would further facilitate the prosecution of crime syndicates around the world. 

Courtesy of Arial Ng.

Main Source: Regulation Asia