Authorities in Malaysia's Sabah state uncovered two separate liquor smuggling cases within a single week this month, the latest in a string of incidents that officials and industry observers link to the country's steep alcohol taxes and an unusual quirk in its tax code that has turned a nearby duty-free island into a smuggling gateway. Read More
Crime
Authorities seized 112 bottles and thousands of mooncakes near the Chinese border in an unusual case involving Chinese-made wine. Read More
A Chinese national who orchestrated a scheme to smuggle beer into Singapore by declaring shipments as food and industrial machinery was sentenced to 164 days in jail after failing to pay a S$560,000 (US$437,000) fine, authorities said. Read More
Police in Bandung, Indonesia, have seized 6,624 bottles of alcoholic beverages suspected of bearing counterfeit excise stamps, the latest in a series of cases highlighting tax evasion in the country’s alcohol trade. Read More
Malaysian customs officers have seized more than 190,000 litres of alcohol hidden in shipping containers and falsely declared as everything from furniture and shoes to bathtubs and welding machines. Read More
Once a lucrative gateway for moving Bordeaux into mainland China, the cross-border trade is being squeezed by big-data surveillance, weak demand and evaporating margins.
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Here in this explainer, we break down what is known in the criminal investigation into Lady Penguin's company and what remains unclear. Read More
China’s biggest wine influencer built a six-million-follower empire that once sold RMB 350 million worth of wine a year. Now, the company behind Lady Penguin is heading to court over alleged smuggling. Read More
Huang Siming, the most powerful official heading Ningxia's expanding wine industry, has been abruptly removed from his post and placed under investigation. Read More
A flashy Chinese hedge fund firm once celebrated as part of the country’s elite “100 billion yuan club” has landed in hot water over a bizarre wine-smuggling scheme involving Hong Kong warehouses, underground border runners and dodged taxes. Read More