Safaricom, Airtel CEOs questioned over unregistered SIM cards

The chief executives of mobile services firms Safaricom and Airtel recorded statements Tuesday morning over unregistered SIM cards linked to crime.

Safaricom boss Bob Collymore was questioned at CID headquarters as Airtel's Shivan Bhargava appeared before Zack Nangulu at Makadara DCIO office to record his statement.

Telkom’s Kenya CEO Mickael Ghossein, told the Business Daily that he was grilled for two and half hours at the Kilimani CID offices on Monday night.

“I was picked by the CID’s at Telkom Kenya headquarters at around 7.30 pm or 8.00 pm. I was leaving the office for my house when I found them down stairs waiting for me. We went to Kilimani CID offices where I was questioned about the unregistered SIM cards on our network,” Mr Ghossein said.

The operators are implicated in violation of regulations for SIM card registration, as it emerged that police are trying trace telephone numbers they suspect were used by the terrorists who attacked Westgate Mall last month. The attack left 67 people dead and hundreds injured.

On Monday, four mobile phone firms' bosses and their vendors were warned they risked arrest over criminal offences committed through any unregistered SIM cards on their network.

Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i said since Sunday, officials from the Communications Commission of Kenya and the police are carrying out a swoop around the country investigating if mobile phone companies and their agents comply with the Communications Act and regulations that were issued last December.

“Despite the regulations, some agents have been selling pre-activated SIM cards or fail to register the cards at the point on sale,” he said during a press briefing in Nairobi.