Shanghai-based Style Craft Furniture Co Ltd has been indicted by a New Jersey federal grand jury for smuggling products made from ramin in to the US.
Style Craft Furniture and its president Danny Chien are accused of smuggling a container of furniture containing ramin into the US without a valid export permit or a re-export certificate in May 2005.
Ramin is a tropical hardwood covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and any individual caught smuggling it in to the US faces a five-year prison sentence and US$250,000 fine or twice the financial gain or loss caused by the offence. Companies can be fined US$500,000 or twice the financial gain or loss.
“The indictment alleges that the ramin originated from the wild in Indonesia and was imported without a valid required export permit or re-export certificate in violation of CITES,” said the US Department of Justice.
The department added that the indictment only contains allegations and that Mr Chien and Style Craft Furniture remain innocent until proven guilty.
