FIONA MACLEOD, Johannesburg | Friday 10.20am
CONTROVERSIAL wildlife dealer Riccardo Ghiazza is wanted in Italy by Interpol for 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.
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 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.
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.