By Aminata Phidelia Allie & Bampia James Bundu
There seems to be disagreement between senior officials of the Sierra Leone Police and one of the mobile phone companies Airtel. On Tuesday the Director of Crime Services in the Sierra Leone Police expressed concern over the use of the Airtel Money transfer services. Speaking at a press briefing, Assistant Inspector General of police, Morie Lenghor said that Airtel “have not been cooperative with us when it comes to giving out information that will help us in investigations” relating to fraud. He said that they had had cases in which people used Airtel numbers to threaten other peoples’ lives but when contacted for information about these numbers, the company never cooperated with them. Lenghor observed that such would also be the case if someone lost money through the Airtel Money service as the mobile phone operator would not cooperate in the search. “You might never get your money as [Airtel] are hardly cooperative when it comes to investigations”. He said that though there had been no complaints yet, “it is important that we guard ourselves against any unexpected outcome from using the service”. The crime director explained that they had been engaging the company for a long time but “they are just not helpful when it comes to aiding us in investigative processes”. He furthered that they had already brought the matter to the notice of the telecommunications regulator, NATCOM, who, he said, were currently reviewing the telecommunications act. He however commended the other two mobile phone companies for being helpful to the police in terms of investigations and expressed the hope that they would continue “in the fight to make Sierra Leone a peaceful and secured state”. Responding to the allegations, the Head of Legal Affairs Airtel Sierra Leone said that his company was “law abiding” and they follow due process in responding to matters of national interest and their customers’ privacy. Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Gerald Cole said that they were surprised by the police allegations. He said the police should have first contacted them before going public with it and blaming the company “wrongly”. He said members of the Sierra Leone Police had never refused request for information regarding call logs so long it had been requested within the frame work of the law. Cole said that Airtel respected the privacy of its customers and if any institution requested for call logs of anyone they should follow the due process of the law by acquiring a court order. “We respect our customers, and we value their privacy” he bellowed. He explained that section 37 (1) paragraph C of the NATCOM ACT gave the right to protect the information of their customers. The Head of Airtel Money, Olayemi Jinadu explained that there was a clear difference between call logs and Airtel Money as their functions were different and should not be misunderstood. He said that there had been no reported incident of people using Airtel Money criminally as they operate closely with the banks. “The system is closely monitored by the Bank of Sierra Leone, so it is very difficult for someone to defraud the system” he said. He urged the police to consult with them whenever they needed information from the company as they were always ready to help.
