Editing AFRINIC (section)

=== Lawsuits ===

====Lawsuit due to senior management's corruption====

=====Afri Holdings Ltd & Others vs AFRINIC=====
In June 2020, AFRINIC was taken to court by one of the men whose name and company have been linked to the heist of the African Internet resources committed by a founding member of AFRINIC, Ernest Byaruhanga. In a notice sent to individuals and organizations that hold IP addresses in the African region, the then AFRINIC CEO Eddy Kayihura stated that an application for an interim injunction against AFRINIC was brought before the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of Mauritius.
The application was lodged by Afri Holdings Ltd, Netstyle A. Ltd, and Elad Cohen. Internet investigator Ron Guilmette has linked Netstyle and Cohen's e-mail address to suspicious activity in South Africa, caused by large chunks of South African Internet Protocol address space, worth millions of dollars on the open reseller market, being stolen by AFRINIC's ex-top senior executive Ernest Byaruhanga.
Affected IP addresses included a block that belongs to [[Sasol]], and blocks that appear to belong to Tredcor, Afrox, Woolworths, and SITA. Documents obtained in August 2019 also showed that Cohen is a director and shareholder of Afri Holdings Ltd.<ref>https://mybroadband.co.za/news/internet/363694-man-connected-to-african-ip-address-heist-sues-afrinic.htm/ {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://afrinic.net/finance/amp?view=article&id=2821&catid=15/ |title=List of Court Cases involving AFRINIC - AFRINIC - Regional Internet Registry for Africa |website=afrinic.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221224726/https://afrinic.net/finance/amp?view=article&id=2821&catid=15/ |archive-date=2021-12-21}}</ref>

=====Logic Web Inc vs AFRINIC=====
On 1 October 2021, Logic Web Inc initiated an application for an interim injunction against AFRINIC.
LogicWeb Inc has received a 196.52.0.0/14 block under the registered  name of "ITC", which is a made-up name for a fake corporate entity that never existed, and one that was invented by the ex-AFRINIC senior management Ernest Byaruhanga as a WHOIS cover story for his IP addresses famous heist. The 196.52.0.0/14 block was another one of AFRINIC's senior management's thefts from the free pool and one that was subsequently sold or gifted to the proprietor of LogicWeb, Inc. of New York, USA, i.e. a certain Mr. Chad Abizeid. Sometime after Mr. Chad Abizeid received the 196.52.0.0/14 block that was stolen by Ernest Byaruhanga, which is worth well over $5 million, Mr. Abizeid tried to sell off the entire thing at once. 
Before recently reclaiming the stolen Internet Resources, the ex-CEO AFRINIC CEO, Eddy Kayihura, has known about the misappropriated 196.52.0.0/14 block for quite some time without taking any actions of reclaiming it, in potential with corruption from Mr. Abizeid, similar to the AfriHoldings lawsuit case.

AFRINIC's scandal of committing the biggest Internet Resources heist, valued at more than 50 million dollars, is still affecting businesses operations that are struggling to recover from AFRINIC's attempts of concealing the gravity of the thefts by reclaiming the stolen IP resources, with little to no consideration of the consequences on the African Internet Connectivity. These businesses are now taking the matter to the Mauritius Courts by filing lawsuits against AFRINIC's management.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://afnog.org/pipermail/afnog/2020-December/004056.html/ |title=[afnog] [Community-Discuss] Updates on the misappropriation of IPv4 resources |website=afnog.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120185437/https://afnog.org/pipermail/afnog/2020-December/004056.html |archive-date=2021-01-20}}</ref>

====Lawsuit due to a legal dispute with its membership====

=====Cloud Innovation Ltd vs AFRINIC=====
AFRINIC has been in a feud with Cloud Innovation (CI) since July 2021, as it intended to revoke over 6 million IP addresses from the company backing the claim by stating a breach in policy. However, Afrinic's attempt to seize IP addresses currently under Cloud Innovation's domain backfired, as by bringing the issue directly to court, without an effort to de-escalate the matter, the RIR did not follow its own in-house policies.

As a result of the unfounded claims advanced by Afrinic, the Supreme Court of Mauritius ordered that Afrinic bank accounts be frozen, thereby crippling its operations. On 15 July, due to court order, Afrinic restored CI's IP address blocks. However, the RIR's bank assets remained frozen until 15 October, when they were granted the removal of the freezing order against AFRINIC in the Mauritius Court. The litigation is still ongoing{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}.

With the amount of IP addresses involved and Cloud Innovation's large international customer base, this litigation is said to be potentially impacting a large majority of the Internet's connectivity and operations. Internet professionals all over the world have raised concerns about the possible consequences that would result from Cloud Innovation's membership being possibly terminated{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}.

In 2022, Cloud Innovation won in court against AFRINIC, with a Supreme Court Judge ruling in favor of the plaintiff, CI, and against AFRINIC. The Supreme Court Judge concluded that the lawsuits were caused by the registry's dogged “determination… to terminate (the plaintiff’s) membership.” At the same time, the judge found no evidence of the lawsuits being indeed vexatious, asking how “in these circumstances… can it be held against the applicant […] that it resorted to the court to preserve its rights?”<ref>{{cite web | url=https://venturesafrica.com/afrinic-loses-legal-battle-in-mauritius-highest-court/ | title=AFRINIC loses legal battle in Mauritius' highest court | date=16 August 2022 }}</ref>

=====Africa on Cloud (PTY) Ltd v Afrinic =====
An Injunction has been issued against AFRINIC's board's illegal attempt to extend Director's term, In particular, board seat number 6 is currently being held by Abdalla Omari.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/2022-June/005354.html |title=&#91;Community-Discuss&#93; Interim order of June 14th 2022 |publisher=Lists.afrinic.net |date= 15 June 2022|accessdate=2022-09-18}}</ref> This seat was given to Mr. Omari through the passing of an illegal resolution to extend a board member's office without an election.

=====Crystal Web (Pty) Ltd v AFRINIC =====
An order has been granted to Crystal Web, one of resources member of AFRINIC,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://afrinic.net/ast/interim-order-20220630.pdf|title=Supreme Court - Crystal Web vs Afrinic & Eddy Kayihura|website=afrinic.net|access-date=2 April 2023|archive-date=25 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325212106/https://afrinic.net/ast/interim-order-20220630.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> to suspend the CEO of AFRINIC, Eddy Mabano Kayihura, after he tried to censor the community discussion list of AFRINIC<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/2022-June/005421.html |title=[Community-Discuss&#93; Temporary emergency moderation |publisher=Lists.afrinic.net |date=2022-06-24 |accessdate=2022-09-18 |archive-date=30 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630003302/https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/2022-June/005421.html |url-status=live }}</ref> because a resource member had uncovered information linking the CEO with a known terrorist supporter.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/2022-June/005418.html |title=[Community-Discuss&#93; NRS Official Response to Amin Dayekh allegation highlighting concerns around potential terrorism funding and support |publisher=Lists.afrinic.net |date=24 June 2022 |accessdate=2022-09-18 |archive-date=30 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630003201/https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/2022-June/005418.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Furthermore, Eddy has been the subject of many controversial and corruptions allegations over the short 2 years since he was in the office.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nrs.help/post/the-downfall-of-afrinic-under-the-corrupt-leadership-of-eddy-kayihura | title=The Downfall of AFRINIC under the Corrupt Leadership of Eddy Kayihura | date=8 July 2022 | access-date=23 August 2022 | archive-date=23 August 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823193427/https://www.nrs.help/post/the-downfall-of-afrinic-under-the-corrupt-leadership-of-eddy-kayihura | url-status=live }}</ref> During his tenure as CEO, nearly 50 lawsuits have been filed against AFRINIC, with AFRINIC having been sued by over 8 different parties, including internal parties.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://afrinic.net/court-cases | title=List of Court Cases involving AFRINIC | date=24 October 2023 | access-date=23 August 2022 | archive-date=30 July 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730224304/https://afrinic.net/court-cases | url-status=live }}</ref>

====Lawsuit by suspended CEO Kayihura Mabano Eddy against AFRINIC====
In July 2022, Eddy Kayihura tried to bypass member-based elections by the [[African Telecommunications Union|ATU]] to appoint directors though the court,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nrs.help/post/exposed-suspended-ceo-in-secret-appeal-calling-for-atu-interference | title=Exposed: Suspended CEO in secret appeal calling for ATU interference | date=22 July 2022 | access-date=23 August 2022 | archive-date=23 August 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823191923/https://www.nrs.help/post/exposed-suspended-ceo-in-secret-appeal-calling-for-atu-interference | url-status=live }}</ref> thereby violating the bottom-up process in which the RIR is built on and hampering the intended effect of the internet self-governance model.<ref name="heise1">{{cite web | url=https://www.heise.de/news/IP-Adressen-Rechtsstreit-um-Afrinic-gefaehrdet-Selbstverwaltung-7187910.html | title=IP-Adressen: Rechtsstreit um Afrinic gefährdet Selbstverwaltung | date=22 July 2022 | access-date=23 August 2022 | archive-date=23 August 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823192210/https://www.heise.de/news/IP-Adressen-Rechtsstreit-um-Afrinic-gefaehrdet-Selbstverwaltung-7187910.html | url-status=live }}</ref>