Chinese wine smuggler demasked and accused

The tricky thing about the smuggling: Sun Xitai changed the names and other declarations on the labels of fine wines most of whom he had imported between 2004 and 2009 from France, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, and then he labeled them as inexpensive standard wines. Among the fine drops, there were a number of demanded wines from Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Latour, and other renounced producers.

According to Chinese media, apart from wine smuggling, Sun Xitai is also being suspected of having other luxury products falsely labeled and of having evaded import duties by means of false invoices. Among the products in question, there are reported to be sneakers and clothes from Nike and Adidas or sun glasses from Oakley.

According to the media, for the 62 year-old man from the province Liaonig in the north east of China, the current accusation is nothing new. It is reported that, as early as in 2002, he had been sentenced to prison on other charges.

To the current accusation, Sun Xitai replied that the import duties for the wines imported (up to 50 percent) had left him no other choice because he wouldn’t have been able to hold his own in the wine trade if he had declared all imports truthfully. Nevertheless, he is pleading himself guilty, but he is insisting that his profits account for 4 million renminbi (about 486,000 euro) – far less than the amount of damage mentioned in the indictment.

Apart from him, Meng Li, his closest employee and secretary is accused, too. Her being sentenced is definite, too, because it could be proven that she did not only have joint knowledge but participated in the smuggling. Both Sun Xitai and Meng Li have lodged an appeal against the judgment. (red.yoopress)