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168
Luboya and Another v State
(2007) AHRLR 165 (NaSC 2007)
Count 3
During June, 2000 the accused approached Anna M Ingwafa, a student at
the Vocational Training Centre, Windhoek, in Windhoek.
The accused convinced Anna M Ingwafa to rent a house for them and to
apply for telephone lines in her name. She rented a house at Pullman
Street 11, Windhoek North. Two telephones were installed at Pullman
Street 11, Windhoek North in the name of Anna M Ingwafa.
The accused operated these lines, fraudulently selling telephone calls to
third parties. The accused built up accounts of N$45,904.30. On 8
August members of Telecom Namibia and the Police went to 11, Pullman
Street, Windhoek North. They found the accused 2, 3, 4 and 5 at the
premises and arrested them. Accused 1 was arrested later (that) day
while negotiating with Telecom Namibia for additional lines at other
premises.
[11.] The first and second appellants in this court were the ones
referred to in the court a quo as accused 1 and 5 respectively.
[12.] Needless to mention that the actual evidence given by the
state witnesses was by far more extensive and detailed than the
summary of substantial facts set out above. That evidence disclosed
quite an intricate modus operandi which was said to have culminated
in the sale of telephone calls internationally as well as locally. Some
of the payments alleged to have been made for the calls were
received in Namibia from as far afield as the Middle East and
Pakistan, according to the evidence. The particular modus operandi
the appellants were alleged to have employed was given the tag of
‘Pakistan Fraudulent Scheme’. The state witness who gave that tag
was Gideon Shivuka Iiyambo, an assistant administrator at Telecom
Namibia, Traffic, Quality and Fraud Centre.
[13.] Mr Iiyambo’s evidence was technically intricate and lengthy.
However, it boiled down to the following. A foreigner coming to
Namibia with the intent to operate the Pakistani Fraud Scheme would
recruit Namibians to apply for telephone lines instead of doing so
himself. This is because it is far cheaper for a local person to acquire
the service from Telecom Namibia than it is for a foreigner. Once set
up, the scheme facilitated a Namibian based fraudulent telephone
operative to work in cahoots with a co-conspirator in the scheme
based in, say Saudi Arabia. The Saudi based person would provide
international telephone calls to customers in that country using the
telephone fraudulently obtained in Namibia. The customers would
pay for the service provided and the Saudi operative would
subsequently remunerate the Namibian based counter-part but all
the money so paid was pocketed by the latter and nothing went to
Telecom Namibia. Before Telecom Namibia could bill the operative
the latter would clandestinely vacate the premises operated from,
thus leaving unpaid bills. Mr Iiyambo, who investigated the frauds,
was able to trace initially the Namibian fronts used in the scheme and
it was through those Namibian fronts that the appellants were traced
and subsequently arrested and charged as earlier stated.
African Human Rights Law Reports