TAWAU: The Sessions Court here allowed the application for a joint trial of a 52-year-old plantation manager for failure to surrender two elephant tusks to the Sabah Wildlife Department; and two local men and an Indonesian for possessing or abetting the possession of two Borneo elephant tusks yesterday.
Judge Awang Kerisnada Awang Mahmud who extended the accused’s bail fixed March 23 to 25, 2020 for the joint trial of Jaifol Liun and the three other accused, Paranchoi bin Nordin, 59, Abdullah bin Simin, 68, and Martin bin Alok, 44, when the former’s case was rementioned yesterday.
Prosecuting officer Mohammed Ali Imran applied for the joint-trial as the nine prosecution witnesses and case exhibits were the same.
Jaifol was charged under Section 40 of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 that provides a fine not exceeding RM50,000 or imprisonment of not more than two years or both upon conviction.
On October 2 at about 2 am at the manager’s house at Ladang Kampung Felda Umas, Kalabakan, the accused had failed to surrender protected animal products in the form of two tusks of a Borneo elephant to the wildlife enforcement officer.
Meanwhile, the three other accused are being charged under Section 41(1) of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 and could be sentenced under Section 41(1)(a) of the same Enactment and read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides a fine of not less than RM50,000 and not more than RM250,000 and imprisonment of one to five years, upon conviction.
All three were accused with possessing or abetting possession of two Borneo elephant tusks, a fully protected animal as listed in Part 1, Table 1, Number 11 of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 without the written permission of the acting minister on the advisory of the director.
They allegedly committed the offence on October 2 at about 12.20 am, 12.30 am and 12.30 pm at Felda Umas 4 and Kg Felda Umas, Kalabakan and their case were fixed for remention on December 16.