ELEPHANT MAN IN COURT

 FIONA MACLEOD MAIL & GUARDIAN 4/2/2000

Controversial wildlife dealer Riccardo Ghiazza was arrested this week on charges of fraud and falsely obtaining South African citizenship.

Giazza(46) the man at the centre of the Tuli elephant furore, appeared briefly in the Pretoria magistrates court on Wednesday 2/2/2000 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 violation" in the 1980's. The Dept 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 of 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 representative Manase Makwela.

 Ghiazza was not asked to plead on Wednesday to fraud and contravening two sections of the Aliens Control Act. He paid R5000 bail and the case was remanded to March 24. The wildlife dealer is also facing charges of cruelty involving the 30 Tuli 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.