Re-charged phone suspects admit theft

ALMOST six years down the line, matters came full circle for Congolese national Tshimanya Williamson Luboya and Pakistani citizen Mohammed Ilyas Waheed in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday.They found themselves back in the dock on the same charges on which they were convicted back in October 2001.

Luboya (40) and Waheed (35) were sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment each on October 29 2001, after they were found guilty on two counts of fraud. They were convicted of involvement in an international telephone fraud ring that cost Telecom Namibia more than N$1,2 million in mid-2000.Luboya and Waheed appealed to the Supreme Court against their conviction.On May 3 this year, the Supreme Court quashed their convictions and set aside their sentences – but also left open the option for the State to decide whether to prosecute them anew.The appeal was decided not on the merits of the case presented at their trial, but on the issue of their right to legal representation.Because they were not legally represented at their trial after the Legal Aid Directorate refused to provide them with legal aid, they had been denied their right to a fair trial, the court decided.Soon after Luboya and Waheed had returned to Windhoek Central Prison from the Supreme Court, they were informed they were being arrested again on the same charges they faced almost six years earlier.Those were three charges of fraud, alternatively theft.Had they not appealed, the recommended date of their release from prison would have been on October 14 this year, Waheed has since then stated in the High Court during an unsuccessful bail application.Yesterday, Waheed pleaded guilty to one of the alternative theft charges.Luboya pleaded guilty to two of the alternative counts of theft.The third fraud charge had been dropped in the meantime.Luboya admitted that between July 20 and 27 2000 at Gobabis he stole N$549 727,62 from Telecom Namibia.Between July 4 and 31 2000 at Gobabis he also stole N$657 463,47 from Telecom Namibia.The money – more than N$1,2 million – was stolen by obtaining telephone services from Telecom “with the wrongful and unlawful intent not to pay therefore”, with the result that Telecom Namibia lost income to the extent of these amounts, Luboya admitted.Waheed admitted along the same lines that he stole N$657 463,47 from Telecom Namibia at Gobabis from July 4 to 31 2000.Luboya and Waheed were accused of persuading people at Gobabis during July 2000 to have phone lines installed at premises at the town in these persons’ names.It was charged that Luboya and Waheed then used the phone lines as a link in an international telephone exchange set-up which is claimed to have ended with them abandoning the lines and the premises, leaving the people in whose names the lines were registered with unpaid phone bills totalling N$549 727,62 and N$657 463,47 respectively.Their lawyer, Zagrys Grobler, reminded the court that Luboya and Waheed had both spent a substantial amount of time in prison before their convictions were quashed.He suggested that Luboya should be sentenced to no more than 10 years’ imprisonment, while Waheed should not receive a jail more than eight years.Deputy Prosecutor General Heidi Jacobs suggested 12 years’ imprisonment for Luboya, and eight years for Waheed.The impression should not be created, by imposing a too lenient sentence, that it was merely a business risk to come to Namibia with the aim of committing crimes, Jacobs told the Judge.Acting Judge Manyarara is set to sentence the two men on Monday.They were convicted of involvement in an international telephone fraud ring that cost Telecom Namibia more than N$1,2 million in mid-2000.Luboya and Waheed appealed to the Supreme Court against their conviction.On May 3 this year, the Supreme Court quashed their convictions and set aside their sentences – but also left open the option for the State to decide whether to prosecute them anew.The appeal was decided not on the merits of the case presented at their trial, but on the issue of their right to legal representation.Because they were not legally represented at their trial after the Legal Aid Directorate refused to provide them with legal aid, they had been denied their right to a fair trial, the court decided.Soon after Luboya and Waheed had returned to Windhoek Central Prison from the Supreme Court, they were informed they were being arrested again on the same charges they faced almost six years earlier.Those were three charges of fraud, alternatively theft.Had they not appealed, the recommended date of their release from prison would have been on October 14 this year, Waheed has since then stated in the High Court during an unsuccessful bail application.Yesterday, Waheed pleaded guilty to one of the alternative theft charges.Luboya pleaded guilty to two of the alternative counts of theft.The third fraud charge had been dropped in the meantime.Luboya admitted that between July 20 and 27 2000 at Gobabis he stole N$549 727,62 from Telecom Namibia.Between July 4 and 31 2000 at Gobabis he also stole N$657 463,47 from Telecom Namibia.The money – more than N$1,2 million – was stolen by obtaining telephone services from Telecom “with the wrongful and unlawful intent not to pay therefore”, with the result that Telecom Namibia lost income to the extent of these amounts, Luboya admitted.Waheed admitted along the same lines that he stole N$657 463,47 from Telecom Namibia at Gobabis from July 4 to 31 2000.Luboya and Waheed were accused of persuading people at Gobabis during July 2000 to have phone lines installed at premises at the town in these persons’ names.It was charged that Luboya and Waheed then used the phone lines as a link in an international telephone exchange set-up which is claimed to have ended with them abandoning the lines and the premises, leaving the people in whose names the lines were registered with unpaid phone bills totalling N$549 727,62 and N$657 463,47 respectively.Their lawyer, Zagrys Grobler, reminded the court that Luboya and Waheed had both spent a substantial amount of time in prison before their convictions were quashed.He suggested that Luboya should be sentenced to no more than 10 years’ imprisonment, while Waheed should not receive a jail more than eight years.Deputy Prosecutor General Heidi Jacobs suggested 12 years’ imprisonment for Luboya, and eight years for Waheed.The impression should not be created, by imposing a too lenient sentence, that it was merely a business risk to come to Namibia with the aim of committing crimes, Jacobs told the Judge.Acting Judge Manyarara is set to sentence the two men on Monday.