The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
THE National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ) plans to seize and forfeit assets acquired through Illicit wildlife trade.
Speaking during a certificate presentation and prize-giving ceremony for prosecutors trained by the Tikki Hywood Foundation in wildlife recently, Prosecutor-General Justice Loyce Matanda-Moyo said, in addition to jail sentences for convicted wildlife criminals, the NPAZ will now actively pursue the seizure of “tainted property”.
She said her office had directed police to conduct parallel investigations with a focus on financial crimes related to wildlife trafficking.
Last year, more than 1 000 wildlife-related criminal cases were prosecuted before the courts.
“It is not enough just to send these criminals to jail: We must ensure that they are disgorged of all illicit gains,” he said.
“We are hopeful that we will soon be making applications for the seizure of tainted property that is connected to wildlife crime, as we have directed the police to conduct parallel investigations so that we pursue these cases through civil forfeiture.
“Currently, we are relying on criminal-based forfeiture … when accused persons are convicted, we pray to the courts to order the criminals to pay restitution to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
“We have also realised that knowledgeable prosecutors know how to aggravate and ask the courts for maximum penalties because they have a superior understanding of the full impact of wildlife crime on the environment, the economy and our cultural heritage as a nation.”
Proportionate punishments, she said, help send a clear message to the public that wildlife crime will not be tolerated.
Justice Matanda-Moyo said poaching remains at the top of wildlife crimes in the country, accounting for 50 percent of all cases that were taken before the courts last year.
“Last year, we managed to complete 88 percent of the cases that we received from the investigating authorities,” she added.
“Fifty percent of the cases were unlawful hunting cases or trapping of animals, while the rest were mostly possession of unmarked ivory, possession of live pangolins and unlawful possession of trophies.
“The skin of the python seems to be a favourite of many.”
Mashonaland West and Masvingo provinces each accounted for 326 wildlife criminal cases, with 315 having been prosecuted and completed.
Matabeleland North had 121, Matabeleland North (74), Harare (39), Bulawayo (32) and Midlands (28), while Mashonaland East had seven cases.
Out of all the cases that were taken to court last year, 902 were completed.
