Vietnam

Articles on Illicit Wildlife Trading in Southeast Asia

A Trans-border Wildlife Trade Network Unmasked

Author: Hoang Quoc Dung
Part III: Troubles and Unknotting (see Part I and Part II)
Unofficial translation by Trinh Hoai Thuong (PanNature)

Only three days after the Vietnam CITES Authority and the National FPD issued the permit to Ka Tum monkey farm, Trung Viet Company celebrated their success in a unique way. They exported six shipments of long-tailed macaques from their newly certified farm (a total of 900 individuals in 192 packages) to China, from the 10th to 18th of May, 2007¹. At the same time, information we collected in Laos and verified independently revealed more suspicious problems relating to monkey trading activities at the Ka Tum farm.

From Vientiane, I traveled the trans-Lao road toward Bolikhamxay Province, which is nearly 150 km southeast of the capital city. I asked a local couple to take me to the Xayasa Trade Export & Import Co. Ltd as it seems to have a clear address: No 174 Una Sonxay Village, Pakxan District, Bolikhamxay Province.

However, we failed to find the Xayasa Company after looking for half a day. Instead, we decided to look for the Xay Savang Company in another part of this big province. We noticed a hotel named Xay Savang located not very far from the main road. By luck, the owner of this newly-opened hotel is also the owner of the Xay Savang Export & Import Company.

Finally we discovered the company hidden in the permit issued by the Viet Nam CITES Authority obtained from Vietnam FPD. The Director of Xay Savang Company, Mr. Vixay Keosavang, discussed without hesitation issues that none of the Vietnam CITES Authority officials nor the macaque trading magnate Tran Quy wanted us to hear.

It took about two hours in the Xay Savang hotel to wait for Mr. Keosavang. In the twilight, I saw an old mini truck with three people as it rushed into the hotel’s courtyard. One of them was Mr. Keosavang, who looked fatter and whiter than his two workers. They were arriving back from a wildlife farm.

According to Vietnam officials, five sets of permits signed by the head of the Vietnamese FPD (No 633 to 638;  No 636 was not included), and given to the investigative journalist team, allowed the Xayasa Company to export 1,700 Macaca fascicularis to Trung Viet.

Meanwhile, a Lao permit also allowed Xay Savang to export wild animals to Trung Viet. It was issued on 12 April, 2004 by the Lao Forestry Department (FD), Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry. The permit No 0652 was signed by the then-Vice Director of Forestry Department (FD), who is now the Director of the FD and of the Lao CITES Management Authority.

Both sets of permits obtained from Vietnam and Laos are key to solving the mystery of the illegal macaques trade ring after years of investigation and thousands of kilometers traveled.

If the above responses provided by Mr. Keosavang are true,  the permit signed by Mr. Veunavang Bouthalath, and they raise questions about the validity of the permits issued by the former Vice Director of Laos’ FD. 

Under the circumstances, the interview confirms our suspicions: The documents provided by Vietnam’s FPD that mention Xay Savang Company, after many requests and delays, are almost certainly fakes.

(Read more detailed information in Part IV: Exposing the Truth)

After this revealing interview, I decided not to go southward to Champasak Province to verify Champasak SLIE Import&Export Company, which is nearly 500 km from Bolikhamxay Instead, I made a tentative appointment with another company in Bolikhamxay Province, Vannaseng Trading Co. Ltd. As Mr. Keosavang said in the interview, this company also has a wildlife farm.

The appointment was arranged in Vientiane, where I could contact Lao authorities to authenticate and clarify the documents that were supposedly issued there.

The interview with Mr. Keosavang created more complications, but it also provided more clues. Who could we believe? Mr. Keosavang? The Lao FD? Vietnam FPD, who gave us the questionable documents? Or were all of these parties lying?

In fact, the documents from Laos that could resolve this situation are permits issued by the Lao CITES Authority since 2005. The copy of the permit issued by Laos received from the Vietnam FPD was not exactly what we needed from Vietnam’s side, at first. While it is good to have for reference, it is hard to verify because it was issued when Laos was not yet a member of CITES.

Moreover, Mr. Nguyen Huu Dung, Vice Director of Vietnam’s FPD, warned us, at that time, Laos dealt with permits without following any CITES regulations. Instead, “they followed procedures according to their own understanding”, said Mr. Dung in a meeting with the investigative journalist team at FPD headquarters in Hamoi, on July 30th, 2007.

As a non-member of CITES, the Lao Management Authority Office was at that time the only agency responsible for the approval of export or transit of wild animals from their country.

The Lao CITES Authority, created by adding CITES to the name of the agency, started their operations after Laos became a member of CITES on 30 May 2004, ten years later than Vietnam.

These two organizations (the Lao Management Authority Office and the Lao CITES Management Authority) have different international legal standing. But the new organization still belongs to the same parent agency, the Lao Forestry Department. Similarly to Vietnam, the Director of the FD is also in charge of the CITES Management Authority.

I hoped to rely on this similarity of organizational structure when I registered for an appointment with Lao FD officials. Without a copy of the permit issued by the Lao CITES Management Authority, I had to depend on luck to find evidence that originated three years ago, when “they [the Lao Management Authority] followed procedures according to their own understanding”.

Revelations of Lao Officials

Through personal channels and with the support of the Department of Media Relations in Laos’s Ministry of  Foreign Affairs, we managed to contact respected officials and avoid the risk of facing unknown officials associated with  Tran Quy’s network.

Finally, I was able to get in touch with such an official, Mr. Athsaphangthong Siphandone, the Vice Director of the Customs Department (CD) in Laos’ Ministry of Finance.

A nephew of Lao’s former President, H.E. Khamtay Siphandone, Athsaphangthong is also the son-in-law of the former Prime Minister and the incumbent State Deputy President of Lao. He is a young, well-trained and modern Lao official. Our meeting also included Mr. Vong Ratsachack, Head of the Planning & Statistics Division, and Mr. Vongchanh Lawkhamphromtakoun, head of the International Relations Division.

In principle, according to Athsaphangthong, the Customs Department issues transit permits to those wildlife export companies only if they have already obtained permits from the Lao Scientific Authority and CITES Management Authority, a certificate from the Veterinary Department, and a license from the Ministry of Trade.

Mr. Vongchanh says the Lao CD has never issued transit permits for any local companies to export wildlife from Laos to other countries, including Vietnam. In a unique recent case, the Lao CD gave a permit to a Lao company to export macaques to China, not to Vietnam. The company is Vanaseng Trading Co. Ltd in Bolikhamxay Province,  the same company we mentioned to Mr. Keosavang. The company’s name is not listed in the permits issued to Tran Quy’s wildlife trade network by Viet Nam’s FPD

The permit was issued by the Lao CITES Authority on August 1st, 2007.  It allows the company to export 1,300 macaques in three shipments of 600, 400, and 300 animals.

Mr. Vongchanh provided a similar answer to the second question about specific companies in Lao and Vietnam. “We have never issued permits to any Lao companies with the  names you are asking about to export long-tailed macaques to those Vietnamese companies,” he said.

According to the administrative structure of Lao, the customs office is structured in a way that the management activities are decentralized and delegated to local customs authorities. The relevant question is how the central CD comes to know provincial customs authorities have not yet given permits to any Lao companies to export wildlife to Vietnam.

Mr. Vongchanh confirms the decentralization mechanism. “However, the central CD has checked with directors of provincial customs authorities over the phone and they provided the same information to me.” In addition, reports from local customs authorities show that there have not been any permits issued for those mentioned export activities or companies.

After that, Mr. Vongchanh gave me a list in Lao language of wildlife trade seizure cases by the CD during 2006-2007. There have been arrests in13 cases, worth 158 million Lao kips. But there is no case involving long-tailed macaques. “If there is no transport of monkeys here, how can we manage to seize monkeys?” Mr. Vongchanh asked with a friendly smile.

To double check, I asked to meet with the Lao CITES Management Authority and the Lao Forestry Department. After waiting a long time, the meeting was arranged successfully. Mr. Thongphath Vongmany, Vice Director of Laos’ Forestry Department, and Mr. Bouaphanh Phanthavong, Acting Head of Forestry Resources Conservation Division, FD, welcomed me into their office.

(Part IV: Exposing the Truth)

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