Central London employment tribunal has received evidence that the telecommunications company MIC Tanzania Limited (Tigo) provided the Tanzanian government with 24/7 mobile phone calls and location data of opposition politician Tundu Lissu in the weeks leading to his violent assassination attempt in September 2017.

The company’s former internal investigator Michael Clifford claims he was unfairly dismissed for raising concerns about this serious breach of privacy and complicity in political violence.

According to the UK’s The Guardian, the tribunal has heard claims that the 2017 attempted assassination of Chadema leader Lissu is connected to Millicom, who allegedly shared his mobile phone data with the Tanzanian government.

In the case against Millicom, it is alleged that Tigo provided Tanzanian authorities with round-the-clock access to Lissu’s phone calls and location data in the weeks leading up to the September 2017 attack.

The accusation surfaced as part of a claim by Michael Clifford, a former internal investigator at Millicom and ex-Metropolitan Police officer, who raised concerns about the company’s actions.

Clifford alleges Millicom wrongfully dismissed him for “whistleblowing” about the affair.

Clifford’s lawyers stated that Millicom had been tracking Lissu’s two mobile phones since August 22, 2017, and intensified the tracking on August 29. The data, they allege, was shared with the government through WhatsApp.

Lissu narrowly survived the attack in Dodoma when gunmen fired multiple shots into his vehicle, leaving him severely injured. He sought medical treatment in Kenya and Europe before returning to Tanzania years later. No one has been prosecuted for the attack

Lissu was shot 17 times in the attack at his parliamentary residence in Dodoma. His car was seriously damaged