Abalone poacher sentenced to 244 years in jail for paying officials to get his haul back

A Caledon father of five already doing time for being part of the abalone (perlemoen) poaching business was sentenced to 244 years in a separate case, which involved him paying fisheries officials to get confiscated stock back.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Solomon Sauls entered into a plea and sentencing agreement on Monday where he admitted to poaching abalone and bribing officials at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF).

The sentence was handed down to him in the Western Cape High Court on Friday. According to the order, his sentences will run concurrently, meaning he was effectively sentenced to 18 years in jail.

Abalone is a protected mollusc that is considered a delicacy reserved for special occasions. The illegal harvesting is known to provide an off-the books income for many divers and the people who dry it and transport it, as well as for the watchers and helpers involved in the illegal enterprise.

Sauls was convicted of 42 charges which included 16 counts of corruption, two counts of money laundering, and numerous counts of contravention of the Marine Living Resources Act.

He was handed a seven-year sentence in September 2020 for being responsible for the delivery and logistics of illegally sourced abalone that was exported. Before then he was serving 14 years imprisonment for his involvement in another syndicate that operated from 2001 until the arrest of its members in 2008.

ALSO READ:  Two Chinese nationals to be deported following conviction for illegal possession of abalone

Corruption

Ntabazalila said he worked with nine DAFF officials who were arrested and are themselves before court on charges including corruption and abalone poaching.

Sauls bribed them to get abalone that had been confiscated from his team of poachers. He would also stop officials from confiscating abalone by saying the abalone were his.

Arrangements would be made for the return of the illegally harvested abalone and the DAFF officials were paid tens of thousands of rand for this service.

Welcoming the sentence, Advocate Aradhana Heeramun, said the NPA was very pleased with the sentence imposed and trusted that this would send a stern warning to offenders.

“This type of offence is of a very serious nature as it involves corrupting government officials into not doing their official duties to protect natural resources,” she said.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.