[Community-Discuss] [afnog] Updates on the misappropriation of IPv4 resources

[AFRINIC Communication]

[Version en français au bas]

Dear AFRINIC Community,

AFRINIC is governed by certain processes, PDP policies and legal frameworks that we need to comply with as an organisation. We can only act within the established framework or the ramifications could be extremely damaging. 

Access to the bulk whois data is granted once anyone who requires the data fully completes the process published at:

https://afrinic.net/support/general-queries/how-can-i-request-for-bulk-whois-data 

We welcome any information provided on the misappropriation of Internet number resources. However, as mentioned above, at this stage, we are unable to comment on what we know or do not know regarding the information shared. 

We trust that once we are able to publish the audit report, it will bring clarifications to the community's concerns on the misappropriation of Internet number resources.

Regards

Ashil Oogarah
on behalf of AFRINIC Communications and PR Team

…………………………………………………………..

Chère Communauté d'AFRINIC,

AFRINIC est régie par certains processus, politiques et cadres juridiques que nous devons respecter en tant qu'organisation. Nous ne pouvons agir dans ce cadre établi, sinon les conséquences pourraient être extrêmement dommageables. 

L'accès aux données whois est accordé une fois que toute personne ayant besoin de ces données complète le processus publié à

https://afrinic.net/support/general-queries/how-can-i-request-for-bulk-whois-data 

Toute information sur la manipulation non autorisée des ressources numériques Internet est la bienvenue. Toutefois, comme mentionné ci-dessus, nous ne sommes pas en mesure, à ce stade, de faire des commentaires sur ce que nous savons ou ne savons pas concernant les informations partagées. 

Nous espérons qu'une fois que nous serons en mesure de publier le rapport d'audit, il apportera des éclaircissements sur les préoccupations de la communauté concernant la manipulation non autorisée des ressources numériques internet.

Regards

Ashil Oogarah
au nom de l'équipe Communications et RP d’AFRINIC



> On 20 Dec 2020, at 04:20, Ronald F. Guilmette <rfg at tristatelogic.com> wrote:

> 

> In message <9A35CE76-E056-4547-B7FD-52696C5C7604 at darwincosta.com>, 

> "dc at darwincosta.com" <dc at darwincosta.com> wrote:

> 

>> @Mr. Ronald I was reading your email and findings over and over again yesterday

>> night and this morning... Thank you very much for bringing all of this into

>> our attention and YES - we "will" or "have"

>> to do whatever it's necessary to revert this situation and to ensure

>> that AFRINIC returns to AFRINIC as it should be.

> 

> Thank you for yor support.

> 

> I suppose that it should be apparent to all that I am upset and angry

> about many of the things that have gone on within the AFRINIC region.

> But the various IP block thefts themselves are, to my way of thinking,

> the least of it all.

> 

> Quite some time ago now, Eddy announced to everyone that AFRINIC was

> going to be performing an exhaustive audit of all AFRINIC WHOIS changes,

> back to the beginning of time, with the intent obviously being to ferret

> out any -more- instances of questionable IPv4 allocations, above and

> beyond those that I and journalist Jan Vermeulen already brought to

> light last year (2019).  Eddy even said that technical personnel and

> representatives of one of the more senior RIRs (APNIC) were being

> brought in to help with this effort.

> 

> That was many MANY months ago now.  (Also, as I'm sure many of you know,

> Ernest's malfeasance has been known about by the AFRINIC Board and

> management for over an entire calendar year now.)

> 

> So this raises the obvious question:  Why didn't Eddy and the Board

> already know about the apparent connections bewteen the AFRINIC IPv4

> allocations held by Mr. Abizeid and Mr. Mehta long long before my

> posting the other day about those?  And if they did know, then why did

> they elect to give both Mr. Abizeid and Mr. Mehta a pass, allowing

> them both to *keep* the sizable AFRINIC IPv4 allocations that appear

> to have been provided to them... presumably in fundamentally crooked

> transactions... by the now disgraced and long ago terminated ex-employee

> Ernest Byaruhanga?

> 

> It has to be one or the other.  There is no third possibility.

> 

> Either Eddy & the Board knew, and elected to do nothing and keep silent,

> or else their much heralded "exhaustive audit" of the history of all

> AFRINIC allocations was so fundementally flawed and incomplete that

> it failed to catch obviously questionable allocations of great swaths

> of AFRINIC non-legacy IPv4 address space, totaling well over a million

> IPv4 addresses.

> 

> I'm not sure which of these two possibilities is worse.  Either the

> so-called "audit" was done in a glaringly incompetent manner, or else

> Eddy and the Board have been complicit in trying to sweep under the

> carpet the questionable nature of the sizable AFRINIC IPv4 allocations

> held by -both- Mr. Abizeid -and- Mr. Mehta... neither of whom is either

> located in the AFRINIC region, and neither of whom, it appears, is

> providing -any- services whatsoever within the AFRINIC region.

> 

> I look forward to Eddy and the Board clarifying when they learned about

> the apparent connections between the IPv4 holdings of Mr. Abizeid and

> Mr. Mehta and the fradulent "ITC" fake corporation that for years served

> to hide so many of the thefts of Ernest Byaruhanga.

> 

> If Eddy and the Board only learned about those connections from my public

> posting of a couple of days ago, then maybe it is time, at long last, for

> them to grant me access to the historical AFRINIC WHOIS information that

> I have been repeatedly requesting for more than a year now, so that I can

> perform a proper sort of audit and analysis of those records.

> 

> On the other hand, if they are none too pleased with me having been able

> to find and expose the many AFRINIC WHOIS anomalies that I have already

> managed to find and expose... even with very limited WHOIS access... then

> I guess they will continue to want to keep me as far away as possible

> from any historical WHOIS information, above and beyond what all ordinary

> man-on-the-street netizens are privy to.

> 

> 

> Regards,

> rfg

> 

> 

> P.S.  I am more than a little inclined to believe that Eddy and the

> AFRINIC Board do want to, and have wanted to just sweep these matters

> under the carpet, as much as possible.  My belief is based on the

> fact that Eddy & The Board have quite clearly made a decision...

> privately and without even having the courtesy of informing the

> AFRINIC membership... to allow the crooks, Mr. Uerlings & Mr. Cohen,

> to keep any and all of the legacy IPv4 address blocks that they had

> successfully stolen, and for which no rightful owner has showed up to

> protest.

> 

> The result has been an inconsistant hodge-podge with things only

> partially set right.  The City of Cape Town, the commercial South

> African firm Columbus Stainless, the South African state-owned oil

> company, Sasol, and others have all managed to get their legacy

> IPv4 blocks back from the clutches of the fraudsters, Mr. Cohen and

> Mr. Uerlings, simply by showing up to assert their rightful claims.

> 

> Other legitimate legacy block holders have, unfortunately, been either

> too lazy, too confused, or too timid to even assert their rights,

> and this has allowed Eddy and the Board to simply ignore those rights

> as a matter of expediency.  This is not a shining example of either

> honor or courage on their part.  It is rather a capitulation to criminals,

> and an abdication of their responsibilities to act in the best interests

> of the AFRINIC members and community.

> 

> Giving in to corruption only leads to even more corruption.  And frankly,

> I remain surprised that this simple fact is not by now better understood

> and appreciated through the African continent.

> 

> Eddy and the Board can and should stop their silent charade, tell the

> members what they have decided to do, or not do, about the various stolen

> AFRINIC legacy blocks that to this day remain stolen and in the hands of

> messers Uerlings & Cohen, and they should be prepared to defend their

> decisions in an open forum.

> 

> The global reputation of AFRINIC has already been buffeted by repeated

> public scandals in recent years.  Repairing that global reputation cannot

> even begin as long as the AFRINIC Board and management are still hiding

> their decision making process behind the same closed doors that protected

> Ernest Byaruhanga and his criminal machinations from public view for so

> many years.

> 

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