A university student who was accused of hacking into NCBA and illegally obtaining millions of Kenyan Shillings using M-Pesa accounts has lost his attempt to convince telecommunications giant; Safaricom, to restore his blocked mobile phone number and M-Pesa Till number.
Safaricom blocked said numbers after the Till number had been used to execute money stolen from NCBA via a hacking scheme.
Justice James Makau via his ruling made it known that the dispute between Anthony Mwangi Ngigge and the telecommunications company was contractual and should as a result be referred to dispute resolution mechanisms before making its way to court.
Anthony Mwangi Ngigge and a fellow student were in 2020 accused of stealing a total of 24.4 million Kenyan Shillings after hacking into NCBA Bank’s system. Both were also accused of attempting to move an additional sum of 190.7 million Kenyan Shillings.
The Judge; Justice James Makau stated that, “Upon considering the pleadings and the dispute herein keenly, it is clear that the nature of the dispute herein is of a contract between the parties and not a constitutional dispute.”
Justice James Makau added that the dispute arose out of an alleged breach of contract between Anthony Mwangi Ngigge and Safaricom which according to him, is merely a civil claim.
Mr. Anthony Mwangi Ngigge took things to court in search of a ruling which could result in Safaricom unblocking his M-Pesa Till numbers and two (2) mobile phone numbers which he used when receiving payments and making payments in his online business.
He stated that he found out his mobile phone numbers had been blocked in October of 2020 when he attempted to withdraw some money. He added that the move by Safaricom is depriving him without cause or legal justification of his right to own property.
Telecommunications giant; Safaricom in a response via its Senior Legal Counsel; Daniel Nduba stated that it received a report from NCBA which included the alleged fraudulent transactions the involved NCBA’s loop accounts and Mr. Anthony Mwangi Ngigge’s telephone numbers.
Safaricom then proceeded to carry out an investigation. Upon conclusion of the investigation it was decided that said transactions were indeed fraudulent. The telecommunications company then proceeded to block the phone numbers and barred the user; Mr. Anthony Mwangi Ngigge from registering any new telephone number(s) using his details.
Safaricom also went ahead to freeze the M-Pesa till account number belonging to an entity trading under the business name; Tiindah online shop.
The telecommunications giant in addition made it know that the investigations showed that a total of 16.2 million Kenyan Shillings had been processed from NCBA Loop Accounts via Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile money service by using a total of 250 mobile numbers which have all since been suspended.
In the words of Justice James Makau, “I find that the Petitioner ought to have challenged the same in a civil suit but not through a constitutional reference.”
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