Malawi court set to deliver ruling in MK10m Bin Liu’s wildlife crime charges
The Chief Resident Magistrate Court in Lilongwe has set February 10, 2022, as the date for delivering a ruling on whether a Chinese national, Bin Liu, has a case to answer or not in the wildlife crime charges he is answering.
Liu is facing trial for committing wildlife crimes and illegally acquiring a firearm.
Court documents show, in part, that Liu is facing charges of possession of ivory weighing 10.250 kilogrammes and valued at MK9.2 million, skull of Impala worth MK1.4 million and acquiring a firearm from another person without a permit in writing.
The state reportedly finished parading all its nine witnesses, with the last one, Martha Ngalawa, an investigator, alleging that the accused was found with over 1000 ammunition during the time he was arrested.
Ngalawa reportedly told the court that “it was impossible for someone to be found with a gun and several ammunition as well as wildlife products belonging to someone else”.
The first two offenses Liu committed, are against the National Parks and Wildlife Act of 2017.
On the other hand, the third offense is contrary to the Firearms Act of the Laws of Malawi.
Liu was arrested in August last year after the police, accompanied by wildlife officials and sniffer dogs, conducted a search at his house in Area 47 in Lilongwe and found the illegal items.
Meanwhile, in another wildlife crime case involving Zambian national Kelby Roy Malambo, the Senior Resident Magistrate Court in Lilongwe has set 9 February, 2022, where the court expects the defense to start parading its witnesses in earnest.
The defense, apparently, continues to delay to parade its witnesses, consequently further delaying the case.
Malambo is being accused of possessing raw African ivory without a permit.
He was found with 22 pieces of raw ivory, weighing 64.905 kilograms and valued at about MK53 million at Mwami Border Total Filling Station in Mchinji in February last year, which led to his arrest.
He faces three charges and these are: being found in possession of specimen of listed species, dealing in government trophy and importing specimen of listed species without producing to a customs officer a valid permit.
All those offences are contrary to the National Parks and Wildlife Act of 2017.
Malambo, 47, comes from Livingstone City in Monze District in Zambia.
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