Vodacom Tanzania MD charged with economic crimes
Tanzania's case against MD Hisham Hendi and other telecom executives targets alleged fraudulent use of network facilities
Dar es Salaam — Tanzanian authorities on Wednesday charged Vodacom Tanzania MD Hisham Hendi and other telecom executives with economic crimes, court documents show. Hendi, who is Egyptian, and other telecom executives “intentionally and wilfully organised a criminal racket, which caused the government ... to suffer a pecuniary loss” of more than 5.9-billion Tanzanian shillings ($2.55m), the documents said. They were not allowed to enter a plea nor apply for bail, and were held in police custody until the case comes up on April 17, a court official said. They did not respond to calls for comment following the issuing of charges. Vodacom, a subsidiary of SA’s Vodacom Group, is Tanzania’s leading telecom company by the number of mobile subscribers, with about 32% of the country’s 40-million mobile subscribers, ahead of Tigo Tanzania, a subsidiary of Sweden’s Millicom, and a local unit of India’s Bharti Airtel. Earlier on Wednesday, the company said Hendi and several other employees wer...
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