By Sam Alfan.
A city businessman has dismissed claims by Safaricom that he tried to sell leaked subscribers information to a leading betting company.
Benedict Kabugi Ndungu, who has sued the Telco for breach of data over the leakage of 11.5 million subscribers information, the claims by Safaricom that he tried selling the data to Sportpesa was a fabrication.
Kabugi said the claims that he attempted to arrange for the sale of the data were made following verbal and written requests on multiple occasions by Patrick Kinoti M’Arithi, the Head of Department, Ethics and Compliance at Safaricom.
He further claimed that Kinoti paid him Sh50,000 through MPesa on 25th May 2019 which was intended to facilitate meetings between him and the individuals who possessed the irregularly obtained subscriber data.
Kabugi added that upon being paid the money, he informed Safaricom’s agent of his Intended meeting with Charles Njuguna Kimani and Mark Billy Nderitu.
The meeting was to “reassure them that they will meet a senior Sportpesa manager to which Kinoti responded informing him to “keep the deal warm”.
He said Safaricom’s agents were therefore fully aware of and fully participated in facilitating meetings between him and the individuals who possessed the subject data.
He dismissed claims by Safaricom that he purportedly converted himself to a whistleblower after realising that it may not be possible to sell the data to the betting firm.
Kabugi further states that he reported the data breach to Safaricom and he only involved himself in the alleged “attempt to sell the data” following multiple requests and full knowledge of telco or its authorized agents Sitoyo Lopokoiyit and Kinoti.
He also denied claims by Safaricom that he coerced the Telco to pay him Sh100 million to disclose the identity of the source of the confidential data, in his possession.
Kabugi added that he in fact assisted Safaricom and the law enforcement agencies to identify the source of the confidential data without demand for payment as alleged.
On the contrary, he said Safaricom allegedly offered to pay him Sh3 million to avert the threatened lawsuit against the firm in relation to the irregular disclosure of subscriber data and also payment for whistleblowing.
He admits that Safaricom on learning of the breach, lodged a complaint with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and he and two managers of the telco, Simon Billy Kinuthia and Brian Wamatu Njoroge were arrested and charged.
He admitted that he was also charged with trumped up charges of demanding Sh 300 million with menaces.
Kabugi says he was a stranger to the claim by Safaricom that from the investigations conducted by the DCI, he allegedly has obtained an extract of WhatsApp conversation between the Kinuthia and Wamutu demonstrating how the illegal access to subscriber data was effected.
He further denies receiving any data or Google Drive link from Kinuthia as alleged by Safaricom.
He said he doesn’t know how Charles Njuguna Kimani received the data as particularized in Safaricom claiming that also learnt that the Google Drive link was sent to Kimani who downloaded it on his personal laptop.
Safaricom claimed the personal laptop was seized and safely stored by the DCI thus eliminating any risk of transfer of the subscriber data.
However, Kabugi stated that he received the sample subscriber data from Mark Billy Nderitu who was in the company of Kimani, both of whom had told him that they were employees of Safaricom.
He said he does not own a personal laptop as alleged by the telco.
