Fiona Macleod
Controversial wildlife dealer Riccardo Ghiazza was arrested this week on charges of fraud and falsely obtaining South African citizenship.
Ghiazza (46), the man at the centre of the Tuli elephant furore, appeared briefly in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for allegedly failing to declare he had a drug conviction in Italy when he applied for South African citizenship in 1996.
If found guilty he could lose his citizenship, says investigating officer Inspector Johan Fourie of the aliens investigation unit.
Investigations into Ghiazza’s citizenship started after the Mail & Guardian revealed last October that he is a wanted man in Italy. Interpol says he is on the run from a six-month jail sentence after being convicted “under the Italian law on drugs” in 1992.
He was also under police investigation for “criminal conspiracy and drug violations” in the 1980s.
The Department of Home Affairs says when he applied for citizenship in January 1996, he replied negatively to the question, “Have you ever been convicted of any crime or offence?”
“On February 15 1996, the South African Police Service indicated nothing was known about Ghiazza from a security or criminal point of view,” says the department’s representative, Manase Makwela.
Ghiazza was not asked to plead on Wednesday to fraud and contravening two sections of the Aliens Control Act. He paid R5 000 bail and the case was postponed to March 24.
The wildlife dealer is also facing charges of cruelty involving the 30 elephants he bought from the Tuli bushlands in Botswana in July 1998. He is due to appear before a Pretoria regional magistrate on June 22.