Chinese businesswoman Stina Wu denies smuggling seal genitals

Chinese businesswoman Stina Wu has denied reports of her involvement in allegedly smuggling seal genitals.

This comes after The Namibian, through its The Issue publication, reported on 4 March that she was under investigation for allegedly attempting to illegally smuggle seal genitals from Namibia to China in December 2024.

The report cited investigations from the Namibia Revenue Agency (Namra) and government authorities and the police.

The allegations against Wu include unlawful activities, and unprocedural and unlawful export of seal genitals.

The Issue reported seeing documents indicating that Wu’s At Helmsman Group was involved in exporting the seal genitals to Hong Kong.

The 20 kilogram consignment of seal bull genitals, worth about N$1 million, was flagged in Hong Kong after it seamlessly made its way through Namibian customs and airport control on Christmas Eve.

The shipment was listed as belonging to Virgo Biotechnology, which is owned by Chinese businessman Min ‘Charlie’ Xie.

In a statement released on Friday on her behalf through her legal representative Sisa Namandje regarding the article, Wu’s lawyer clarified that she has no connection with the alleged export of the seal bull genitals.

“Our clients have no connection with Virgo; and thirdly, even assuming our clients have a relationship with Virgo (which remains denied) on the available documents, the transaction between Virgo and Uukumwe and the export agreement between Virgo and Chung Kee Seafood Trading Company are above legal reproach,” he said.

Namandje stated that there is no truth in the article carried by both The Namibian and The Issue.

He further argued that it is untruthful that The Issue has “seen” documents connecting any of his clients to the sale of seal bulls’ genitalia and the export thereof to China.

This all emanated from a shipment, which was not accompanied by the proper documentation, and was discovered to be undervalued, reports suggested.

This prompted the Chinese authorities in Hong Kong to flag the shipment and alert Namibia that the suspicious cargo from Namibia – which was not accompanied by the relevant Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) documentation – had been intercepted.

Namandje stated on record that his two clients were never involved in the export of sea bull genitalia (lawful or not) and none of them is under investigation in relation to the sale or export of seal bull genitalia to China.

Namandje explained that Virgo Biotechnology (Pty) Ltd is a Namibian registered company owned by Min Xia (Charlie Xia) which Stina Wu has no connection with.

He stated that Virgo on 18 December 2024 entered into a sale agreement with Uukumwe Youth Empowerment Consortium (Pty) Ltd, a company with the necessary legal permits, licences and authorisations to harvest seal bull genitalia.
On the date Virgo and Uukumwe entered into the aforestated sale agreement, Namandje said, Uukumwe issued a tax invoice to Virgo for the sale of 976 seal bull genitalia at a purchase price of N$900 018.89.

Following the transaction, an application to export products of Cites-listed species was made to the relevant authorities by Uukumwe (the seller of the seal bull genitalia) in favour of Chung Kee Seafood Trading Company in China, the entity to whom the products were to be exported.

Prior to the transaction, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism had granted Uukumwe the necessary free entry permit to enter Tsau //Khaeb National Park for purposes of culling seals and removing carcasses out of the park on 4 October 2024.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources on 2 January 2025 informed the environment ministry in writing of the number of seals harvested by Uukumwe during the 2024 harvesting season.

The fisheries ministry had also, in accordance with the law, allocated the necessary quotas for seal harvesting to Uukumwe.

“Given the fact that there were no legal impediments, Uukumwe was in law entitled to harvest seal bull genitals in accordance with the law, and that based on the agreement between Virgo (a company not related to our clients), the latter then engaged Transworld Cargo as a clearing agent to handle the transportation and exportation of seal genitals to the People’s Republic of China,” he explained.

Namandje indicated that his clients have since been shown the necessary export certificate issued to Chung Kee Seafood Trading Company, the necessary customs declaration form and the required clearing and forwarding forms completed by Virgo and approved by Namra, plus a share certificate as evidence that the sole shareholder of Virgo is Xia.

His clients, he said, were also shown a release order granted to the clearing agent by Namra for the seal genitals packages to be exported.

He argues that all these documents do not show any of the illegalities alleged in the article.