Safaricom PLC headquarters in Westlands, Nairobi.
A former Safaricom employee has sued the telecommunications firm demanding Sh800 million for wrongful dismissal.
Mr Saikumar Allaka, a former senior analytics manager at the telco, says he was headhunted from Equity Bank only to be fired after 15 months at Safaricom.
Mr Saikumar says in court documents that he was employed on a fixed-term contract starting September 7, 2020, until September 2022, but his tenure was cut short over suspicious emails allegedly shared with employees working under him.
The former employee says he was eventually arrested and charged before a Nairobi court but was freed in April this year for lack of sufficient evidence.
The three employees, who were working under Mr Saikumar, are alleged to have shared a series of emails, in which the sender claimed to be in possession of data of 35 million Safaricom subscribers and demanded payment of $800,000 through Bitcoin, failure to which he would publish the data on the web.
“At no point was there any evidence directly linking the claimant to the data breach. The claimant’s gadgets (laptop and mobile phone) were found to have no connection to the breach, further undermining the respondent’s justification for the dismissal. Therefore, the reasons cited for both the criminal case and the termination are unsubstantiated, and the claimant’s dismissal was unwarranted and unjust,” Mr Saikumar says in the petition at the Employment and Labour Relations court in Nairobi.
Terminating contract
While terminating his contract, Safaricom alleged that the former employee’s account was used to extract the data sample between October 31 and November 1, 2021, the period when the said email demands were received.
Safaricom reported the matter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and he was eventually arrested and charged before a Milimani court.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Kebabe Ondieki acquitted him on April 30, saying the evidence was not sufficient.
In his ruling, the magistrate cited incomplete investigation which ought to have been extended to the US and Geneva, where the said emails originated from.
“No investigations were ever extended to India to determine whether or not the accused was a Hyderabad or at another city 600kms away the time the data breach was committed,” part of the judgment reads.
The court stated that despite the company alleging that the suspect’s IP address was used in two locations at the same time, it failed to place him on the scene of crime, which was critical in supporting the case.
“In a disposal, I return a verdict of acquittal under section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code as the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt in all the counts and set the accused free unless lawfully held back,” the ruling reads.
The company has appealed against the decision.
The former employee said through lawyer Ondieki and Ondieki advocates that he was condemned without a hearing or to defend himself as required by the Fair Administrative Act.
He further said his fundamental rights to a fair, just and expeditious administrative action were violated.
He also alleged that the steps taken by the company violated the doctrine of legitimate expectation, the law and their external procedures.
“The decision to dismiss the Claimant is unlawful as it was not in accord with the Constitution of Kenya 2010, Section 41, 43 & 45 of the Employment Act, their own internal procedures and the established good practice and judicial pronouncements and it breaches the rules of natural justice,” Mr Saikumar said in the court documents.
He is seeking damages for hardship and mental anguish of Sh50 million.
The figure is based on an estimated annual loss of Sh1.5 million due to decreased life quality and opportunities, projected over 35 years.
Compensation
Further, Mr Saikumar said that compensation will not only acknowledge the immediate suffering but also address the potential long-term repercussions of this life-altering professional and personal disruption.
He also claimed that the dismissal damaged his image and that the same allegations can have a negative impact on other foreign professionals from seeking employment in Kenya.
“Considering the potential long-term damage to Kenya’s economic and diplomatic standing, and the need to enforce corporate responsibility, an exemplary damage award of Sh500 million is proposed considering that Safaricom is a multi-billion-dollar company. This amount reflects the necessity to deter the Respondent and similar entities from future violations and ensures that Kenya maintains its reputation as an attractive, safe, and equitable workplace for global talent,” he said.
Mr Saikumar has also proposed a punitive damage award of Sh300 million to serve as a substantial deterrent against such malicious behaviour by the company and similar entities.
