Convict ordered to leave country after jail

FAUSTINE KAPAMA

THE Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam has ordered a Pakistan national, Syde Adnan Hussain, to leave the country immediately after serving his sentence, including paying 50m/- fine or go to jail for nine years for illegal operating electronic communications.

Principal Resident Magistrate Huruma Shaidi convicted Hussain last Friday of two offences of operating electronic communications without a license and causing loss of aver 40m/- to the Tanzania Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

The Pakistan national was convicted on his own plea of guilty to the charges presented before the court, led by State Attorney Diana Lukondo. Upon considering mitigation factors presented by the accused persons and the submissions by the prosecution, the magistrate sentenced the convict to two years imprisonment or pay 5m/-for operating electronic communications without a license.

The magistrate also ordered the Pakistan national to pay a fine of 43,731,000/- or serve a custodian sentence of seven years for causing loss of the said amount to a specified authority. He ordered the convict to leave the country immediately after serving the sentence.

However, Hussain paid the fine in order to escape the jail term. Hussain had asked the court during mitigation to provide him lenient sentence because it was the first time for him to be convicted of a criminal offence and that he had a family that depended on him.

However, the prosecution sought for stiff sentence to be imposed to the convict in order to serve a lesson not only to him but also to other potential offenders who would be tempted to commit similar offence.

The prosecution had told the court that between March 22, 2010 and April 12, this year, in Dar es Salaam, the accused person unlawfully operated an international communication, which is telecommunication traffic without a license issued by TCRA.

It was alleged further that within the same period in the city, being unlicensed operator, the accused person terminated international telecommunication traffic by using unlicensed Sim Box, thereby causing pecuniary loss of 43,731,000/- to the Regulatory Authority.