Exposed! How China planted Huawei in Mauritius to spy on internet and India
The controversy surrounding the awarding of contracts to Huawei while Sherry Singh was the CEO of Mauritius Telecom has drawn attention to the unholy connection between the executive and the Chinese government.
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FollowSherry Singh, the former CEO of Mauritius Telecom (MT), is charged with exploiting selective bidding procedures to aid the Chinese mega-firm Huawei, which had previously been awarded contracts worth hundreds of millions of rupees in growing its operations.
Huawei played a significant role in developing the 3G network in Mauritius. The controversy surrounding the awarding of contracts to Huawei during the tenure of Sherry Singh has drawn attention to the unholy alliance between the executive and the Chinese government.
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Last month CEO of Mauritius Telecomm, Sherry Singh, resigned from his post, citing Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth's order to provide a Submarine Cable Station on an island in Mauritius to the Indian secret agency RAW.
The opposition political parties sought the prime minister's resignation, viewing this as a danger to the nation's sovereignty.
In response to criticism from the opposition in the legislature, PM Jugnauth categorically denied Singh's claims, explaining to Mauritian legislators and the media that he had just asked India to send a technical team to do a state security study of the landing site.
However, various tales have been told about the controversy surrounding the awarding of contracts to Huawei under the tenure of the former CEO, Sherry Singh.
Between 2006 to 2007, Huawei received contracts worth hundreds of millions of rupees, but under Singh, those contracts soared to billions of rupees.
Under the guidance of Sarat Lallah, the previous Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mauritius Telecom (MT), Huawei entered the national telecoms firm in 2006–07.
In the same time frame, Huawei received the UTRAN 3G project. The telecom giant is also awarded a contract to expand its internet services. To increase the network's current resilience, he thus went ahead and installed six switches and a router.
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Huawei has been tasked with increasing the "mobile network capacity and coverage" by 18% since Mauritius has seen an increase in internet services and mobile phones.
The Chinese company was later awarded a second contract to create other 3G sites in Mauritius.
According to Mauritius News, quoting sources at MT, if the contracts allocated to Huawei during the 2006-07 period amounted to hundreds of millions of rupees, from 2015, billions of rupees are concerned, particularly with the Safe City camera project worth Rs 19 billion.
Notably, MT's other big telecom projects that bear Huawei's influence include creating smart boxes and my.t money.
While former board members who worked under his direction adamantly maintain that every contract allocation was decided after a call for bids, other sources from Top Management indicate grave concerns regarding specific procedures.
Quoting sources, the Mauritius News report added that Huawei had largely developed the 3G network in the island nation. On several occasions, other companies like Emtel have called on Huawei's services to develop their network. "It should therefore not be believed that Huawei only collaborates with Mauritius Telecom," the source was quoted as saying.
Sherry Singh argued that after 2015, the tendering procedures had changed. The report adds that from 2015 Mauritius Telecom began to use selected bidding exercises, and the calls for tenders were limited to a certain number of suppliers.
According to media reports, a further factor that confirms the relationship between MT and Huawei has to do with recruitment.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also charged China with using Huawei to conduct surveillance operations. According to sources cited by CNN, the FBI found that Huawei equipment mounted on cell towers close to US military bases in the remote Midwest could intercept and interfere with communications from the Defense Department that were subject to strict security controls, including those used by US Strategic Command, which is in charge of the nation's nuclear arsenal.
The investigation findings were based on the information provided by current and former national security officials. The media reports stated that proving that a specific packet of data was stolen and transported outside was challenging, making it difficult to ascertain whether the data was sent to Beijing from these towers.
Several reports claim that Huawei equipment can intercept commercial cell traffic and highly restricted airwaves used by the military and disrupt crucial US Strategic Command communications, allowing the country to spy on America's nuclear arsenal despite China's denials of the accusations of spying on the US.
According to a former FBI official, this touches on some of the most delicate activities the United States engages in. The official added that it would affect the nation's ability to use the nuclear triad to effectively command and control, which goes into the Bona Fide Determination (BFD) category. "If it is possible for that to be disrupted, then that is a very bad day," the official added.
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