[Itpolicy-np] Shame at NT -- Staffers bleeding NT white

[Bipin Gautam]

(Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=26478
)

Staffers bleeding NT white 	
  	

SUNDAR KHANAL
KATHMANDU, Dec 25: New findings of the ongoing investigation into a
recent VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) racketeering case show how
badly the call by-pass fraudsters could bleed Nepali Telecom service
providers in connivance with latter´s staffers.

In the 36 hours between 13-15 October, Nepal Telecom (NT) had lost Rs
16.3 million to a covert racket operated from Thailand. The racket
used only four NT post-paid SIM-cards with an international roaming
service worth Rs 30, 000.


Investigation officials said that the case has turned out to be the
fastest colossal call by-pass fraud ever meted out to Nepal Telecom.

"If one and a half day could bleed NT that much, the total loss figure
will be much higher than expected or declared," said an investigatiion
official of Nepal Police who has expertise in anti-VOIP operations. NT
has not furnished new figures since last year when it said the company
was losing Rs 600 million per annum due to illegal VOIP rackets.

Two major VOIP rackets raided by police in the year 2067 BS in
Lalitpur accounted for a yearly loss of around Rs 1 billion, officials
said. The largest racket, operated by Bangladeshi nationals at
Khumaltar, had used around 4,000 SIM-cards into their secretive
gateway machines.

NT has not shown any inclination to reveal the fluctuating figures
accredited to illegal VOIP bleeding because of its failure to curb
irregularities among its own staffers, said high-officials closely
working with NT in this connection. NT spokesman Surendra Thike could
not be approached for comments despite repeated attempts.

Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) and Central Bureau of
Investigation have both been undertaking anti-VOIP operations and have
conducted over a dozen successful raids in and out of the capital in
one and a half year.

A crying shame at NT

Officials said the 36-hour roaming scandal that originated from
Thailand, the first known case of its kind, has proven that the entire
VOIP racketeering lives on lapses or deliberate malpractices at NT or
other telecom service providers.

Two of its own engineers, Dipendra Rana Magar and Hansaraj
Bijayananda, and five other staffers were identified by NT as the
players behind the highest revenue leakage, and they were all handed
over to police for investigation on September 23. They were later
released on a condition to report when called.

The engineer duo had not cut off the roaming service despite
termination of the fixed limit. "They just let it go on while there
were continuous by-passing of international and conference calls,"
said investigative officials.

Similarly, NT staffers had abused their authorities in issuing
post-paid SIM-cards (9851125181-84) without filling necessary details
about the recipients and also overlooked the procedure of approving
roaming service. "They did not follow proper documentation in
connection with approving roaming facility," officials added.

Investigation also reveals that NT staffers could have connived with
one Brightway Education Consultancy to fraudulently issue SIM-cards
and to sanction roaming services. The documents recorded at NT to
issue SIM-cards are found to be the testimonials of those unrelated
persons who had approached the agency for abroad studies, police said.

The agency´s owner Uddhav Rai is at large. Police, however, has
succeeded to arrest and prosecute one Rijan Humagain who collected all
SIM-cards from NT.

	
	
Published on 2010-12-25 02:30:44