Forest Service ranger involved in purchasing illegally logged valuable wood reversed sentence to 3 years and fined 3 million

A ranger surnamed Chen from the Chaozhou Work Station of the Pingtung Forestry Management Office of the Forestry Bureau was suspected of collaborating with industry operators to purchase state-owned precious yew trees and Xiao Nan with a market value of more than 8.76 million yuan, and also rented warehouses and installed surveillance cameras. Although he was found not guilty in the first instance, the Kaohsiung Branch of the High Court in the second instance found that Chen was not only informed but also participated in the crime, and the sentence was commuted to 3 years in prison and fined 3 million yuan.

The judgment pointed out that Chen Nan worked as a technician at the Chaozhou Work Station of the Pingtung Forestry District Management Office (now the Pingtung Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Administration) and was responsible for mountain patrol and other operations for 21 years. In February 2020, Chen Nan learned that a man surnamed Xie was interested in purchasing a batch of huge precious wood with a quantity of 58 yew logs, tree heads, angle wood and 659 pieces of nanmu wood. Chen Nan not only viewed the goods through the LINE communication software, but also went to the Kaohsiung depot and Taichung factory to confirm that it was yew.

Chen Nan even took the initiative to rent a warehouse in Yanpu, Pingtung, from an unsuspecting landlord to store logs. In March 2020, he went to Taichung to record the weight of the logs on site, assisted in hiring a crane to transport the wood to the south, and even hired workers to set up a surveillance system in the Yanpu warehouse to protect the precious wood worth 8,765,654 yuan. Xie Nan and others finally completed the transaction with the seller for 8 million yuan.

Another drug manufacturing case involving Chen Nan was exposed when the police searched the Yanpu warehouse. Chen Nan denied the crime in court, arguing that he was just a mountain ranger and did not know how to appraise prices. The seller showed a "timber removal bill" issued by a public agency at the time. He even took a photo to ask his colleagues at the Chaozhou station. The colleagues evaluated that the document should be genuine and there was no intention to buy stolen goods. The Pingtung District Court accepted this and found him not guilty.

The prosecutor refused to accept the appeal, and during the trial at the Kaohsiung High Branch Court, the judge pointed out that the timber move-out note produced by the seller was an old document from 20 years ago, and the item only recorded "yew", and there was no "Xiao Nan" that was detained in this case. Moreover, when public agencies bid for valuable wood, they will definitely put steel stamps on the beginning and end of the logs. However, "none of the 58 huge logs in this case was stamped," which is extremely unreasonable.

The judge believed that Chen Nan had served as a mountain ranger for more than 21 years, and he should be familiar with the rules and branding regulations for precious wood transactions. When he saw timber that was inconsistent with the quality, had no branding, and had a huge price, he could not have known that it was stolen wood. Not only did he not report it, he also actively cooperated with it. The rent-assisted warehouse, recording weight and installing monitors can be regarded as accomplices. Therefore, the acquittal verdict of the first instance was revoked. According to the "Forest Law", he was sentenced to 3 years in prison and a fine of 3 million yuan for the crime of ganging up with two or more people to use vehicles to buy valuable wood stolen goods. The whole case can still be appealed.