Dr Alexander Tweneboah, former President of the Ghana Real Estates Developers Association (GREDA), is to serve two years in jail for SIM box fraud.
The term was handed down to him by the Financial and Tax Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe on Thursday June 9.
Dr Tweneboah was also fined GH¢24,000.00 (2000 penalty units).
He was charged with three counts: operating telecommunication services without a licence, possessing communication devices without lawful authority, and interfering with the sending and transmission of communications signals. He was found guilty on all charges, hence the penalty.
It is estimated that the state lost about $900,000 to the convict’s criminal activities in the telecommunication industry.
An anti-fraud collaboration between the security agencies and telecom service providers in the country led to Dr Tweneboah’s arrest in January 2015, together with other suspects, which operated as a syndicate.
The other suspects were Ebenezer Boateng, Victor Owusu, Kwadwo Asare, Alvin Habib, Francis Abbey, and David Ayikyi. They were paraded at a press conference in Accra.
Members of the syndicate, according to the investigators, carried out the illegal termination of telephone calls also known as SIM box operations and deprived telecom operators and the state revenue.
Between October 2010 and August 2014, SIM box fraud cases recorded were 13, resulting in the arrest of 17 suspects made up of Ghanaians and foreign nationals.
One of the kingpins, an Italian arrested in connection with SIM box fraud, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. Despite his plea of not guilty, the court found Dr Tweneboah to have committed the crimes for which he was charged, thus his jailing.
Source: ClassFMonline
