drug smuggling
Fiona Macleod
Controversial wildlife dealer Riccardo Ghiazza is a wanted man in Italy. According to Interpol, Ghiazza is on the run from a six-month jail sentence for drug smuggling. He was also under police investigation for “criminal conspiracy and drug violations” in the mid- to late 1980s.
The South African Department of Home Affairs will not attempt to extradite him unless asked to do so by the Italians. But the Italian police say this is unlikely because the jail sentence he faces is too short.
Police sources in Italy say “a Ghiazza, first name Riccardo, born September 5 1953 in Alesandria, has been wanted in Italy since 1992, having to serve six months of imprisonment for drug violations”. Details of the smuggling were not available at the time of going to press.
Ghiazza (46) obtained permanent residence in South Africa in February 1990 – two years before he was convicted and sentenced. His passport states that he was born in Acqui Terme, a small industrial area in northern Italy.
A home affairs representative said this week Ghiazza had declared that he did not have any convictions when he applied for permanent residence. An official in the department said it is “looking into the matter”.
Ghiazza was not available for comment at the time of going to press. His lawyer, Johan van Heerden, said he did not know of the conviction. “It’s possible it’s a rumour, because a lot of people are trying to destroy his business. I find it far- fetched, he doesn’t seem to be the drug- smuggling type,” said Van Heerden. “It might be very nice for you to blacken his name even more, but I can assure you that if it’s printed a case will be made. Even if it’s true, is it in the public interest?”
Ghiazza failed to appear in the Brits Magistrate’s Court on Monday, where he is due to face charges under the Animal Protection Act of cruelty to the 30 Tuli elephants he imported from south-east Botswana in July last year.
John Welch, director of prosecutions in Pretoria, says it “appears he did not receive a summons at all. The senior prosecutor I have appointed to the case is investigating why not. My instructions were that Ghiazza was to appear with his co- accused [businessman Craig Saunders, elephant handler Wayne Stockigt and two Indonesian mahouts who were training the elephants], so that we could set a date for the trial.”
Welch says he has asked senior Pretoria prosecutor Andr Wyderman to take the case and will ask that it be tried by a regional magistrate from Pretoria – rather than a prosecutor and magistrate from Brits, where Ghiazza’s African Game Services is based and where civil cases arising out of the Tuli elephant saga have been heard.
“There is a serious backlog in the courts. This case is likely to take some time, and I don’t want it to block up the court roll in Brits,” says Welch.
Herman Glas, a former Brits magistrate who presided over the first case where allegations of cruelty to the elephants surfaced, said this week he was not surprised that Ghiazza had failed to appear in the dock.
“The impression I got during my case was that the law is only a plaything for Riccardo Ghiazza,” he says.
Glas ruled at the end of the lengthy civil trial that there was clear evidence of cruelty and he placed the elephants under the custody of the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA). This ruling is still the subject of litigation.
Glas resigned in January this year, after 27 years of practising law. He says he resigned because he wanted to be a full-time farmer, and for personal and financial reasons.
“I resigned to survive, not because there was any pressure on me. I enjoyed the Tuli case. I felt it did some good, opened up people’s eyes and helped to change their minds. It was the most interesting case I’d dealt with in my 27 years in law. But then I got to thinking, do I have to wait another 27 years for another such case?”
Glas predicts the problem the prosecution will face in proving the cruelty charges in the criminal case will be to convince the court there was intent. If convicted, Ghiazza faces a maximum fine of R4 000 – and, more importantly, he will be prevented from owning animals ever again.
“There was evidence that the elephants were battered and bruised. Ghiazza must tell us why,” says Glas. “We can’t allow someone to carry on like that in South Africa. He’s a ruthless man, he doesn’t seem to care.”
Instead of appearing in court on Monday, Ghiazza was collecting a shipment of 167 wild animals which he flew to a safari theme park in China on Tuesday morning.
Animal welfare groups had tried to halt the shipment, chiefly because China has no animal welfare legislation and the shipment included various endangered species. But the relevant conservation authorities had granted the necessary permits, and the paperwork was in order.
“Our hands are tied,” said the NSPCA’s Marcelle French. “Ghiazza has every legal right to transport these animals to China.”
The shipment included two black rhinos, 10 white rhinos, 10 wild dogs, eight otters, four bat-eared foxes, four caracals and 10 black springboks. All these animals are listed as rare or endangered, and many of them appear to have been caught in the wild.
There were 18 giraffes, 26 gemsbok, six scimitar-horned oryx, 10 white springbok and other kinds of buck. Two “trophies” – the head of an elephant and that of a rhino, with horn intact – were also part of the shipment.
Ghiazza had chartered two Boeing 727s from Singapore Airlines, with the words “Mega Ark” inscripted on their sides in large letters. Chartering these planes normally costs in the region of R2-million each, says an official at the airport, and the bill is usually paid by the client.
The total pay-out the Italian will receive from the deal is estimated to be at least R6-million.
A phalanx of policeand airport security officers gathered on the runway to ensure the seven-hour weighing and loading of the animals were not disturbed. Media representatives and other observers were strictly prohibited.
This week’s was the first of two shipments the Italian is sending to China during the course of this month to make up an order for 400 wild animals. The next shipment is due to go out on October 18. At least another three consignments from other wildlife dealers are reportedly due to be sent out of the country in the coming month.
“Ghiazza’s making a lot of money, but he is not doing anything for our conservation,” says Glas. “South Africans must wake up and realise these animals are part of our national treasure.”