Multi-billion wildlife trafficking exposed

Writer John Grobler

A crackdown on Chinese, cash-only, business practices would be the only way to terminate the multi-billion, international wildlife contraband market, said a senior South African state prosecutor.

This, after an ancient but highly sophisticated, trade-based, financial-settlement scheme, known as Chinese Flying Money or fei qian, emerged as the key enabling mechanism in the annual USD$260 billion, international, wildlife, contraband market. Illicit commodities, functioning as a form of currency, allegedly support massive wealth transfers outside the regulatory oversight of the international banking system.

A former Singaporean finance expert, whose name is being withheld for his protection, explained: "The deception behind fei qian is that the money never actually leaves China. It's just the commodities that get moved around." This is part of a longer payment chain within the Chinese diaspora, worldwide.

The seamless nature of global trade and massive volumes of shipping containers handled daily, allows the fei qian business to ‘hide in the open’, shifting containers with contraband between Africa and the Far East.

Click below to read more.