LAN_135: GP CEO admits 'additional irregularities'
(LAN_86 Misc)
LAN_94 azhar
Friday 07 December 2007 - 23:50:40
GP CEO admits 'additional irregularities'
Staff Correspondent
Grameenphone CEO Anders Jensen in a statement last night said some additional irregularities have been found relating to Grameenphone providing special service to illegal VoIP operators.
“An investigation is ongoing and Grameenphone is fully cooperating with the law enforcement agencies in this regard,” said the statement issued after seizure of VoIP equipment from the house of the owner of another company, AccessTel.
“I have been completely taken by surprise by this latest development as all of this happened before I started my tenure as CEO. Apparently not all information was given to me. I was assured by the relevant people in the company that all VoIP-related issues were already cleared,” said Jensen.
“We are trying to get to the bottom of this whole affair and I can assure that stern measures will be taken against anyone involved within Grameenphone,” he added.
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Illegal VoIP Business
GP-supplied equipment seized from house of AccessTel owner
Staff Correspondent
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday raided the head office of Grameenphone after it "found out Grameenphone's involvement" in providing illegal VoIP (voice over internet protocol) equipment to an Internet service provider (ISP).
Rab officials said Grameenphone supplied VoIP switches to AccessTel, which was running illegal VoIP business using the switches. Rab personnel claimed they seized VoIP equipment worth Tk 50 lakh from the house of AccessTel owner on Road-105 of Gulshan-2 in the city yesterday.
Grameenphone authorities last night said “some additional irregularities were found” regarding Grameenphone providing special services to illegal VoIP operators.
Lt Khandaker Al Moin of Rab's intelligence wing told The Daily Star last night, "Earlier, we raided the Grameenphone office and found that customers used Grameenphone's SIMs [subscriber identity module] to run VoIP businesses."
He said at that time Grameenphone denied they were involved in the act. "Now we have found evidence of Grameenphone's direct involvement," Moin said.
Major Shamsuzzoha, who was leading the drive, told reporters at the Grameenphone head office last night that they have seized technical data showing Grameenphone's involvement in the act.
He said earlier Grameenphone gave them some information but during the raid they became sure that Grameenphone had also concealed information.
He said they started the operation at different buildings in Gulshan where Grameenphone is housed. "It could be morning [today morning] before the search is complete," he said.
A representative of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) accompanied the Rab personnel during the raid.
In October, BTRC found Grameenphone's illegal VoIP operation at its Moghbazar office in the capital during a drive. It fined Grameenphone Tk 168.40 crore for illegal VoIP business.
LAN_303Internet Service Providers Association Bangladesh
( http://www.ispa.org.bd/comment.php?comment.news.comment.21 )