AfricaPress-Tanzania: FAMOUS Comedian Idris Sultan appeared before the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday, charged with failure to register a Sim Card previously owned by another person.
The 27 year old Sultan, a resident of Mbezi Beach, who is also the Big Brother Africa (BBA) winner of 2014, was charged alongside another person, Innocent Maiga, who is alleged to be the previous owner of the sim card in question.
Before Senior Resident Magistrate Rashid Chaungu, the duo denied the charges.
The magistrate granted them bail on condi- tions of each securing two reliable sureties.
Each surety, according to the magistrate, was required to sign bond of 15m/-. The case was adjourned to June 9, 2020 for preliminary hearing as investigations into the mat- ter, according to the prosecution led by Senior State Attorney Wankyo Simon as well as State Attorneys Batilda Mushi and Esterzia Wilson, have been completed.
Prosecuting, the trial attor- neys told the court that the two accused persons committed the offences on diverse dates between December 1, 2019 and May 19, 2020 at Mbezi Beach area within Kinondoni District in the city.
It is alleged that within the period, Sultan used a Sim Card (number withheld) previously owned by Innocent Maiga without reporting to the licensee.
The court heard further that within the same period, being lawful owner of the sim card, Maiga failed to report the changes of possession of the card to Idris Sultan without informing his li- censee.
This is the second criminal case the comedian is facing before the same court. In the first case he was charged along with two others for providing online contents through their You Tube channel without license issued by the Tanzania Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TCRA).
Other accused persons are Doctor Ulimwengu (28), who resides at Msasani and Isihaka Mwinyimvua (22), a resident of Gongo la Mboto.
The trio is accused to have committed the offence on diverse dates between March 8, 2016 and March 12, 2020 at various places in Dar es Salam.
According to the prosecution, the accused persons allegedly provided online contents through their You Tube channel or account known as Loko Motion without license issued by the TCRA.
Before commencement of yesterday’s proceedings, Advocate Jebra Kambole introduced to represent the two accused persons and would be teamed by his co counsel Benedict Kishabakaki. However, the prosecution’s team strongly opposed the latter to ap- pear for the accused persons.
