SIX senior officials with Six Telecoms Company Limited appeared before the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday charged with two counts of fraudulent traffic and occasioning a loss of over 8bn/- to Tanzania Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TCRA).
They are Hafidh Shamte, alias Rashid Shamte, who is the Director and Chief Executive Office; Raphael Hongo Onyango, the Chief Finance Officer and Said Mohamed Ally, who is an Accountant.
The rest are Noel Odeny Chacha, the Marketing Officer, Tinisha Max, who is Network Administrator and Vishno Konreddy, the Head of Data Business.
They were not allowed to enter plea to the charges when they were brought before PrincipalResident Magistrate Respicious Mwijage, because they are charged under the Economic and organised Crime Act.All of the accused persons were ordered to go to remand because the court could not entertain any bail application, as the court vested with jurisdiction to hear the matter is the High Court.
The lower court could entertain such an economic case upon securing consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The case will be mentioned on January 28, as the prosecution informed the court that investigations into the matter have not been completed.
According to the prosecution, led by Principal State Attorney Theophil Mutakyawa and Senior State Attorney Jacqueline Nyantori, the accused persons committed the offences on different days between May 2010 and January 2016.
It is alleged that in order to obtain a financial or personal gain, the accused persons charged International Telecommunication Traffic at a rate below the minimum rate of 25 US dollars cents per minute.
As a result, the prosecution alleged, the accused persons failed to pay to TCRA revenue amounting to 3,836,861.99 US dollars, generated from the minimum rate of international income telecommunications traffic.
The prosecution told the court that within the said period, in the city of Dar es Salaam, following a move of charging lower international telecommunication rates and failure to pay the revenue generated, the accused caused a loss to the authority.
Arraignment of officials with Six Telecoms Tanzania Limited comes just a day after TCRA, communications industry regulator, suspended all services provided by the local firm, for allegedly occasioning losses to the government.
It followed an impromptu inspection by TCRA at the company’s offices and facilities in Dar es Salaam on Thursday on claims that the company was charging lower tariffs on international calls than those indicated by the industry watchdog.
/Daily News.
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