Diamond Platnumz’s manager Hamisi Shabaan Tale Tale, alias Babu Tale, risks jail again after failing to pay an 11-year debt amounting to Tsh250 million (approximately Ksh13 million now, but was equivalent to about Ksh11 million at the time).
Babu Tale, who is also the Member of Parliament for Morogoro South, escaped going to jail in 2018 after he agreed to pay the debt as ordered by the court which found him guilty of plagiarism.
In 2013, Sheikh Hashim Mbonde accused Babu Tales’ events and entertainment company, Tip Top Connection Company Limited, which he co-owns with his brother Iddi, of using his recorded religious video clips for business purposes without his approval, therefore infringing on the cleric’s intellectual property rights.
On February 18, 2016, a Dar es Salaam court found Babu Tale guilty of illegally using Sheikh Mbonde’s teachings for commercial gains via his company Tip Top.
The judgment was arrived at after three years of legal litigation, but even then Babu Tale ignored the court’s ruling.
Babu Tale, Diamond Platnumz’s manager.
Photo credit: Courtesy
Judge Augustine Shangwa, consequently, ordered Babu Tale to pay Sheikh Mbonde Tsh250 million in compensation.
However, six years later, he had not paid a dime and an arrest warrant was issued. In May 2018 he was arrested for contempt of court and detained at the Central police post in Dar es Salaam before being presented to court.
To date, Tale is yet to pay the cleric even after the High Court on August 17, 2022 affirmed the decision issued by the junior court.
Tale moved to the Court of Appeal to appeal against the High Court’s decision, but his plea was struck out.
Sheikh Mbonde has now filed a fresh case requesting the court to order Tale’s arrest and have him jailed for not paying him.
