The Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Court on Tuesday found Zambian national Kelby Roy Malambo guilty and convicted him on all the three charges he faced in the MK53m wildlife crime case.
The charges Malambo faced were; 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.
Senior Resident Magistrate Wanangwa Nyirenda has since set 14 October, 2022 as the date when state prosecutors and defence will be expected to make final oral submissions for sentencing.
According to the court, actual sentencing will be done after 14 October, on a date which "will be communicated to all parties in the case".
The final oral submissions will include, among others, aggravating factors from prosecutors and mitigating factors from defence.
Malambo, who started defending himself on 8 March this year, was found with 22 pieces of raw ivory, weighing 64.905 kilograms and valued at about MK53 million. He was arrested at Mwami Border Total Filling Station in Mchinji in February, 2021.
During defense--after the case worried parties for overly delaying--Malambo, in a futile bid to be exonerated, paraded himself and two other Zambians as witnesses.
All them--Malambo, Moses Richard and Kylian Mulumba--gave a similar account: "That Malambo was not the owner of the items, that he was just asked to bring the items to Malawi and that he did not even know the items because they were sealed in sack bags".
Malambo, 47, comes from Livingstone City in Monze District in Zambia.