CEOs of telcos face arrest over Sim card crimes

From left: CCK director- general Francis Wangusi, ICT secretary Fred Matiang’i and Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo during a press briefing in Nairobi October 7, 2013. Diana Ngila

By OKUTTAH MARK,

IN SUMMARY
A crackdown being carried out by CCK and security agents could see chief executive officers of telcos charged in court.
If found guilty the Sim card vendors face a Sh300,000 fine of three years in imprisonment or both.
The mobile operators are liable to a Sh500,000 penalty.

CEOs face arrest for Sim card crime


Mobile phone operators have been implicated in violation of Sim registration rules following a crackdown prompted by the Westgate Shopping Mall terrorist attack two weeks ago.

The crackdown being carried out by Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and security agents started on Saturday and could see chief executive officers of telcos charged in court.

“We are going to take action on the vendors and CEOs who will be liable to criminal offences committed through any unregistered Sim cards on their network,” Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo said.

If found guilty the Sim card vendors face a Sh300,000 fine or three years in imprisonment or both. The mobile operators are liable to a Sh500,000 penalty.

The four mobile operators, Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom’s Kenya Orange and Essar’s Yumobile have since March been required to take details of those buying their Sim cards and to disable all unregistered users on their networks.

“From our investigations all the four mobile operators do not confirm with the Sim card regulations and they are all culpable,” CCK director- general Francis Wangusi said.

(READ: Telcos block more than 1.2m unlisted SIM cards)

Mr Wangusi said security agents had since Saturday been able to buy pre -activated Sim cards from operators. Some of them still had unregistered users in their network.

Safaricom confirmed that it had received communication from the Criminal Investigations Department in regard to Sim card registration.

“We have received a request from the Criminal Investigations Department of the Kenya Police Service to furnish them with some information pertinent to their investigations on SIM registration and we can confirm that we are giving them our full co-operation,” said Safaricom’s Corporate Affairs director Nzioka Waita.

The crackdown comes as the government tightens security following the September 21 attack that left 73 dead, 240 injured and 39 still missing.

Mr Kimaiyo said the police want to establish which mobile network(s) might have been used for communication during the terrorist attack.

On Monday, Parliament started investigations into the attack, but the sessions were behind closed doors.

Sim card registration is aimed at enhancing national security by making it possible to trace details of subscribers engaged in criminal activities such as spreading hate speech, mobile money conmanship, extortion or demanding for ransom in kidnapping cases.

“The issue of security is not a matter that we can continue to debate about. Those found culpable, including the CEOs will be arrested and charged in court of law,” ICT secretary Fred Matiang’i said.