Uganda deports telecom giant CEO over national security

The chief executive officer of MTN, a leading telecommunication company, in Uganda was deported late Thursday over national security concerns, police said.

A letter signed by Internal Affairs Minister Jeje Odongo showed that Wim Vanhelleputte was no longer accepted in Uganda and to stay out of East African country indefinitely, according to police.

“Vanhelleputte was deported because he was attempting to compromise national security,” police spokesman Fred Enanga told Anadolu Agency.

The plane carrying the CEO to his home country Belgium departed from International Entebbe Airport at around midnight.

Enanga, however, refused to disclose which Vanhelleputte and other MTN officers, deported earlier, were spying for.

Thursday’s incident came after the arrest and deportation of three other senior MTN staff, including Elsa Mussolini, the former director-general for mobile money, and Annie Tabura, the chief of sales and distribution.

''We are carrying out investigations into the case as it concerns national security,” he said.

“It contains highly classified information. Security agencies will inform the public over the actions of deported officials following the probe.”