Chinese nationals imprisoned for ‘importing fake tyres’

A federal high court in Lagos on Monday ordered the remand in prison of two Chinese, Tao Shen and Jing Yau, charged with importation of fake tyres.

Shen, 36, and Yau, 22, are charged alongside a Nigerian, Chinedu Madubuike, and two companies, Sino Nig. Import and Export Ltd, and Nedeca International Ltd for importing fake tyres into the country.

The accused are standing trial on four counts bordering on importation of substandard products.

When the charges were read to the accused, and translated into Chinese language by an interpreter, they pleaded not guilty.

Mojisola Olatoregun, the trial judge, consequently, fixed March 21 to determine the bail application for the accused.

In the charges, the accused were said to have committed the offence in February (this year) by conspiring to import tyres which did not meet the relevant Nigeria industrial standard.

They were alleged to have stuffed various sizes of tyres into one, knowing same to be in a dangerous state, or being injurious to human lives.

The accused were said to have imported the tyres which did not comply with the mandatory Nigeria standard by stuffing different sizes into one, thereby, making the tyres to be unfit for its purpose.

The tyres were said to have failed to meet the relevant Nigerian industrial standard and likely to endanger human lives.

Again, the accused were alleged to have failed to furnish returns on the conditions of the imported tyres as required by law.

The offences are said to have contravened the provisions of sections 320 and 510 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap C38, laws of the federation, 2004.

They are also said to have contravened the provisions of sections 26 and 32 of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Act, No 14, Laws of the Federation, 2004.

SON arrested the two Chinese nationals, Taolung Shen and Xu Jing Yau, for importing substandard tyres worth over N5 billion in a statement it issued late February.

The suspects, according to the statement, were paraded after their arrest, and the warehouse where they had been cloning different sizes of tyres under different brand names was sealed.

They were first arraigned in a federal high court sitting in Lagos on March 8, 2017.