Two Indians arraigned in Dar court over communication fraud

FAUSTINE KAPAMA

TWO Indian nationals were arraigned before a Dar es Salaam court, facing several counts of fraudulent use of communication network and subjecting the country to over 2bn/- loss.

Before the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court, Kalrav Patel and Kamal Ashar were not allowed to enter any plea to the charges.

Principal Resident Magistrate Wilbard Mashauri remanded the accused until May 22, when the case will come for another mention as investigations into the matter was still going on, according to the prosecution led by Senior State Attorney Mutalemwa Kishenyi.

Other charges include conspiracy to commit an offence, operating electronic communications without a license, use of unapproved electronic equipments, importation and installation of electronic communication equipment without a license and use of unapproved electronic equipments.

It is alleged that in 2015 at diverse places in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, the two accused conspired to commit the offence of importing electronic communication equipments without license.

The prosecution alleged that at unknown dates this year in the city, Patel and Ashar imported into Tanzania some electronic communication equipments, which are Voices over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateways and Cisco Router without having the license from Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

According to the prosecutor, the accused persons, at unknown date within Zanzibar Municipal, they installed and maintained the said equipments without license and that between February 25 and April 18, this year allegedly used the equipments which were not approved by the Authority.

The prosecution alleged further that within the same period, the accused person unlawfully operated an international gateway to receive and transmit telecommunication traffic without a license issued by the Authority.

It is alleged further that between February 25 and April 18, this year in Zanzibar Municipality, unlawfully and with intent to avoid payments, all accused transmitted international telecommunications traffic without using TCRA licensed gateway.

The prosecution further alleged that within the same period, being unlicensed operators, Patel and Ashar terminated international telecommunications traffic by using unlicensed GSM VoIP gateways, causing a pecuniary loss of 2,061,234,000/- to the government and TCRA.