Diamond Platnumz’s manager Hamisi Shabaan Tale Tale alias Babu Tale, risks being thrown in jail after failing to pay a nine-year debt of Ksh13 million as directed by the court.
Tale, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Morogoro South-East, was found of copyright infringement in 2016 and ordered to pay Tsh250 million/Ksh13 million.
Sheikh Hashim Mbonde in 2013 accused Babu Tales’ events and entertainment company, Tip Top Connection Company Limited, of using his recorded religious video clips for business purposes without his approval, in the process infringing on the cleric’s intellectual property.
The plaintiff filed a suit against Diamond’s manager at a Dar es Salaam court. On February 18, 2016, the court ultimately determined that Tale illegally used the cleric’s teachings for commercial gains.
The judgment was arrived at after three years of litigation.
Warrant of arrest
Babu Tale ignored the court ruling of 2016, he was ultimately arrested two years later in 2018 for being in contempt of the court and detained at the Central Police Station in Dar es Salaam.
The Morogoro South-East MP was presented in court in May 2018 where he agreed to pay the debt owed to the Muslim cleric.
However, after he was released, Babu Tale filed an appeal at the High Court challenging the lower court’s ruling that required him to pay the cleric Ksh13 million compensation.
The High Court on August 17, 2022, affirmed the decision issued by the lower court and threw out Tale’s appeal.
Tale then moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge the High Court’s decision, but his plea was also struck out.
The Muslim cleric has now filed a fresh case requesting the court to order Babu Tale’s arrest and have him jailed for not paying him the Ksh13 million compensation.
