Luxury yacht maker pleads guilty to illegally obtaining Myanmar teak in violation of sanctions

Mizzima

Justice For Myanmar (JFM) issued a statement on 19 May welcoming the prosecution of luxury yacht company, Sunseekers, for the illegal acquisition of blood teak from Myanmar. The rights group also called for further action against the Sunseeker companies.

The text of the JFM statement is as follows.

Luxury yacht makers Sunseeker International Limited and Sunseeker USA Sales Co. Inc. (Sunseeker) have pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a fine of US$200,000 among other penalties for using illegally obtained Burmese teak on yachts that it imported into the USA, a violation under the Lacey Act.

The guilty plea was announced by the US Department of Justice in a May 13 press release.

Following the Myanmar military’s coup attempt, the USA imposed sanctions against Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE), which is illegally controlled by the military junta. The forestry industry in Myanmar is effectively controlled by MTE which has sole responsibility for the sale of timber in Myanmar, auctioning logs for export. Through MTE, the junta takes a percentage of export revenue, helping to finance their atrocities.

Sunseeker was previously charged in the UK for violating its Timber and Timber Products Regulations and pleaded guilty in 2023 to three criminal violations leading to a fine of approximately $450,000.

The same year, Dutch yacht-making company Oceanco was also fined for violating the EU Timber Regulation for bringing Myanmar teak into the EU, using the wood for billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s superyacht. The teak was bought and imported from a Turkish company.

Despite sanctions and laws in place to prevent the import of illegal timber, trade in Myanmar teak continues. In 2022 Justice For Myanmar published a feature detailing how US companies continued to import Myanmar teak, circumventing sanctions. These laws have not stopped the flow of teak to the US, and therefore have not stopped the flow of funds from the timber trade to the illegal military junta.

If the US, EU, UK and other governments are serious about stopping the military junta’s campaign of terror and supporting the people of Myanmar, further action is urgently needed.

1. Urgently investigate continued timber shipments from Myanmar and ensure sanctions are enforced.

2. Promptly investigate all banks and financial institutions processing timber payments.

3. Impose new targeted sanctions on the companies and individuals involved in the exports of products from industries controlled by the military junta, including timber.

4. Ban the import of Myanmar timber.