Adjucation on Queen of Ivory case next Tuesday
The Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday rescheduled to next Tuesday the session of delivering judgment in the 5.4bn/- worth of elephant tusks economic trial of alleged “Queen of Ivory,” Chinese Yang Feng Clan and two Tanzanians.
Principal Resident Magistrate Huruma Shaidi said that he had not completed writing the judgment, but hopefully the same will be ready to be pronounced by early next week. Under the circumstances, the magistrate adjourned the session to February 29, 2019.
During the trial, the prosecution called more than 11 witnesses, while the accused gave their own defence. Other accused are Tanzanians Manase Philemon and Salivius Matembo. The three accused are charged with leading organised crime and unlawful dealing in government trophies worth 5.4bn/-.
It is alleged that between January 1, 2000 and May 22, 2014 in the city, the trio carried on business of trophies of buying and selling 706 pieces of elephant tusks weighing 1889 kg valued at 5,435,865,000/-, the property of United Republic of Tanzania, without a permit from the director of wildlife.
According to the prosecution, within the same period and place, intentionally, Clan organised, managed and financed a criminal racket by collecting, transporting or exporting and selling the elephant tusks without having permit of the director of wildlife or CITES permit.
Within the same period and place, Matembo and Philemon, allegedly furnished assistance and directions in the conduct of business of collecting, transporting and selling the said government trophies with intent to reap benefit, promote and further the objective of criminal racket.
Philemon is charged with a separate count of escaping from lawful custody. The prosecution told the court that the accused person committed the offence on May 21, last year, at Sinza Palestina Hospital in Kinondoni District in the city.
It is alleged that the accused person escaped from lawful custody of a police officer, who was holding him under custody on allegations of dealing in government trophies and leading organised crimes.
Well-armed criminals kill elephants and rhinos for their tusks, largely due to increasing demand in China for ivory ornaments and folk medicines. It is reported further that most of the tusks smuggled from the East African country end up in Asia.
Conservationists have said demand for ivory in China has fuelled poaching. There is an international ban on buying and selling of ivory across borders that was implemented in 1989 after the population of elephants dropped from the millions in the mid-20th century to about 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.
China announced a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017. Some members of parliament were reported to have said in 2013 that poaching was out of control, with an average of 30 elephants being killed for their ivory every day.
In August 2011, Tanzanian authorities seized more than 1,000 elephant tusks hidden in sacks of dried fish at Zanzibar port and destined for Malaysia. Tanzania’s most notorious elephant poacher nicknamed “The Devil has no mercy”, Boniface Maliango, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in March 2017.
Maliango, whom the prosecution described as “King of Ivory”, was convicted of illegal possession of 118 pieces elephant tusks worth over 2bn/- alongside his brother, Lucas Maliango, alias Ruksa Mponze, alias Shimie and Abdallah Chaoga, alias Babu.
He was arrested in Dar es Salaam in September 2015 after a year-long manhunt while attempting to smuggle the tusks. It is reported that his crimes were the focus of a Netflix documentary film, The Ivory Game, produced by actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Elephant Action League, which fights wildlife crime, is reported to have said that Maliango ran an ivory trafficking network across five African countries, notably Tanzania, Burundi, Zambia, Mozambique and Kenya.
Maliango was accused of supplying ivory to Chinese citizen Yang Fenglan, known as the “Ivory Queen”, who is on trial in Tanzanian court for allegedly trafficking more than 700 elephant tusks worth 2.5million US dollars (over 5.4bn/-).