Chinese businesswoman Stina Wu says she wasn't smuggling seal parts. She's fighting back against claims made by The Namibian newspaper on March 4th. Their story accused her of trying to sneak seal genitals from Namibia to China last December.
The news report mentioned investigations by several agencies, including the Namibia Revenue Agency, government officials, and police. They claimed Wu broke laws by improperly exporting seal genitals. According to their story, papers showed Wu's At Helmsman Group sent these items to Hong Kong.
Someone stopped the shipment in Hong Kong after it passed through Namibian checkpoints on Christmas Eve. The package contained about 20 kilograms of seal bull genitals worth roughly N$1 million. Shipping documents listed Virgo Biotechnology as the owner, a company run by Chinese businessman Min 'Charlie' Xie.
Wu's lawyer, Sisa Namandje, released a statement Friday denying everything. He insisted Wu has zero connection to Virgo Biotechnology. The lawyer added that even if there was a relationship between Wu and Virgo - which he strongly denied - all transactions appeared completely legal.
Namandje called the news story false and misleading. He specifically challenged the claim that reporters had seen documents linking his clients to selling or shipping seal genitals to China. The Hong Kong authorities flagged the shipment because it lacked proper paperwork and seemed undervalued.
Chinese officials alerted Namibia about the suspicious cargo, which lacked proper wildlife trade documentation. Namandje firmly stated that neither Wu nor anyone else he represents ever exported seal parts or faced investigation for such activities. He explained that Virgo Biotechnology belongs solely to Min Xia and has no ties to Stina Wu.
Namandje described how Virgo made a legal purchase from the Uukumwe Youth Empowerment Consortium on December 18, 2024. Uukumwe had all the necessary permits for harvesting seal parts. They sold 976 seal bull genitalia to Virgo for N$900,018.89 and provided an invoice.
After buying these items, Uukumwe applied for export approval to ship them to Chung Kee Seafood Trading Company in China. The environmental ministry had already permitted Uukumwe to enter Tsau //Khaeb National Park for seal culling on October 4, 2024.
The fisheries ministry confirmed Uukumwe's harvest numbers to environmental officials in writing on January 2, 2025. They had assigned Uukumwe appropriate seal harvest quotas as required by law. Namandje argued that these facts show that Uukumwe legally harvested the seal parts.
Based on these permits, Virgo hired Transworld Cargo to ship the seal genitals to China. Namandje said Wu's team reviewed all relevant paperwork, including export certificates, customs declarations, forwarding forms approved by authorities, and corporate documents showing Xia as Virgo's only shareholder.
They also saw the release order from Namibian revenue officials allowing the packages to leave the country. The lawyer concluded that none of these documents support any allegations of wrongdoing mentioned in the newspaper article.
The news report mentioned investigations by several agencies, including the Namibia Revenue Agency, government officials, and police. They claimed Wu broke laws by improperly exporting seal genitals. According to their story, papers showed Wu's At Helmsman Group sent these items to Hong Kong.
Someone stopped the shipment in Hong Kong after it passed through Namibian checkpoints on Christmas Eve. The package contained about 20 kilograms of seal bull genitals worth roughly N$1 million. Shipping documents listed Virgo Biotechnology as the owner, a company run by Chinese businessman Min 'Charlie' Xie.
Wu's lawyer, Sisa Namandje, released a statement Friday denying everything. He insisted Wu has zero connection to Virgo Biotechnology. The lawyer added that even if there was a relationship between Wu and Virgo - which he strongly denied - all transactions appeared completely legal.
Namandje called the news story false and misleading. He specifically challenged the claim that reporters had seen documents linking his clients to selling or shipping seal genitals to China. The Hong Kong authorities flagged the shipment because it lacked proper paperwork and seemed undervalued.
Chinese officials alerted Namibia about the suspicious cargo, which lacked proper wildlife trade documentation. Namandje firmly stated that neither Wu nor anyone else he represents ever exported seal parts or faced investigation for such activities. He explained that Virgo Biotechnology belongs solely to Min Xia and has no ties to Stina Wu.
Namandje described how Virgo made a legal purchase from the Uukumwe Youth Empowerment Consortium on December 18, 2024. Uukumwe had all the necessary permits for harvesting seal parts. They sold 976 seal bull genitalia to Virgo for N$900,018.89 and provided an invoice.
After buying these items, Uukumwe applied for export approval to ship them to Chung Kee Seafood Trading Company in China. The environmental ministry had already permitted Uukumwe to enter Tsau //Khaeb National Park for seal culling on October 4, 2024.
The fisheries ministry confirmed Uukumwe's harvest numbers to environmental officials in writing on January 2, 2025. They had assigned Uukumwe appropriate seal harvest quotas as required by law. Namandje argued that these facts show that Uukumwe legally harvested the seal parts.
Based on these permits, Virgo hired Transworld Cargo to ship the seal genitals to China. Namandje said Wu's team reviewed all relevant paperwork, including export certificates, customs declarations, forwarding forms approved by authorities, and corporate documents showing Xia as Virgo's only shareholder.
They also saw the release order from Namibian revenue officials allowing the packages to leave the country. The lawyer concluded that none of these documents support any allegations of wrongdoing mentioned in the newspaper article.
