Tanzania - mobile theft

Tanzania: Sh1.6 Billion Fraud Unearthed At Top Mobile Phone Firm

Police are holding several suspects, including some Vodacom employees, over a major racket in which the mobile phone company is believed to have lost Sh1.6 billion, The Citizen can reveal today.

The suspects are being questioned in connection with the theft of the colossal amount of money in airtime scratch cards, cellphones and post-paid vouchers from Vodacom Tanzania Limited.

Sources said the employees are believed to have facilitated the swindling by their accomplices in what is being seen as possibly the biggest theft by servant case in the country in recent times.

"Investigators have found millions of shillings in the bank accounts of some of the employees now in police custody. One of them had Sh300 million," the sources said.

The employees were arrested after investigations revealed huge sums of money in their bank accounts, which drew suspicion for the unusually large amounts never before transacted or held by them.

Contacted for comment by The Citizen on Thursday, Dar es Salaam regional police commander Suleiman Kova confirmed the arrests.

Mr Kova said his officers were holding three suspects over the theft allegations. He, however, would not give their identities or say if they were among the Vodacom employees suspected of involvement in the racket.

Reached for comment early in the week, Vodacom spokesperson Mwanvita Makamba conceded that there had been such a problem at the company, but she would not give any details.

She would also not confirm the amount of money lost, though our sources insisted that the figure so far computed stands at about Sh1.6 billion.

"It is an internal matter. We have agreed with the police not to release any information until the investigation is completed," Ms Makamba said.

She said: "If I disclose this to the media, other suspects will be alerted and might escape or decline to cooperate with us."

But speaking to The Citizen, Mr Kova: "We have, so far, arrested three suspects following a complaint by Vodacom. They will be taken to court any time soon."

According to the police boss, the three are alleged to have stolen scratch cards worth Sh300 million. Mr Kova declined to comment further, saying that could jeopardise the ongoing investigations.

However, sources in Vodacom told The Citizen that more people were being sought and could be arrested before those already in custody are taken to court.

The source also would not name the employees affected, but volunteered that they were from several departments.

The investigation had been going on in secrecy for quite some time before the sources alerted The Citizen about the thefts.

Top company officials wondered how our reporter got to know about the thefts and arrests, saying the police had been very secretive about the information right from the start.

"It is true this has happened here at Vodacom, though it is still being treated as a highly confidential matter. But some of our colleagues have been arrested," our source said.

But Ms Makamba said the matter was internal and had nothing to do with customers. She said the company would only release the full information after the investigation if completed.

But sources told The Citizen that the suspects had supplied airtime vouchers to non-existent collection points and later collected and cashed them for their own benefit.

Consignments of imported mobile handsets were also diverted before reaching retail points, according to the sources.

The huge theft reportedly alarmed management, which believes the syndicate could be bigger and may have spread further.

The racket is a pointer to the rampant problem of theft by servant, in which many major companies with fast moving products have lost billions of shillings. Several financial institutions have been most hit, with numerous cases involving billions of shillings pending in court.