The Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) has opened a criminal case with Mauritian police following alleged fraud in the election of the Afrinic board of directors.
Special elections for the African Network Information Centre (Afrinic) board were suspended on Monday, 23 June 2025, when significant irregularities became apparent.
Afrinic is without a board or CEO after a protracted legal battle caused by an attempt to reclaim large blocks of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses assigned to Cloud Innovation, a Seychelles-based IP broker.
IP addresses are a fundamental part of the Internet’s infrastructure, required by every server and user to connect and communicate globally.
Afrinic is the Regional Internet Registry for Africa and the Indian Ocean region, one of five global bodies tasked with managing the allocation of Internet resources like IP addresses.
Between 2013 and 2016, Afrinic assigned over six million IP addresses to Cloud Innovation in four large blocks.
However, in 2021, Afrinic’s board resolved to reclaim those blocks, arguing that Cloud Innovation was not operating as an IP broker when it applied for them and had failed to use them in accordance with its original application.
In response, Cloud Innovation and its allies launched a barrage of lawsuits to prevent the loss of their valuable resources.
Well-placed industry sources told MyBroadband that Afrinic’s governance was so poor that it was just waiting for an agrieved and well-resourced member like Cloud Innovation to “drive a truck through them”.
The legal onslaught effectively paralysed Afrinic, opening the door for the Mauritian courts to appoint an official receiver to help restore the organisation.
Unsurprisingly, this was also controversial, and a court application blocked the official receiver from overseeing the elections.
A second receiver has also faced allegations of bias and other impropriety, including claims that he is serving the interests of a particular group.
Afrinic has been rocked by allegations of corruption, and several competing interest groups are manoeuvring to seize or retain control of the organisation behind the scenes.
Their motivations vary — from defending commercial footholds in the lucrative IP address market to advancing ideological or political agendas, or simply having control over Afrinic’s multimillion-dollar budget.
However, the common thread is clear: influence over Afrinic means power over a critical part of Africa’s internet infrastructure.
Among the concerns raised about the election were the requirements and structure the receiver laid down for elections scheduled to take place on 16–23 June 2025. These included:
- Members registering for online voting had to supply a notarised letter nominating their designated e-voting representative. Notarisation costs between R500 and R1,000.
- New members who registered with Afrinic after a certain date would not be allowed to vote.
- Allowing unlimited electronic and in-person proxy votes for those who hold power of attorney for an Afrinic resource members.
Several stakeholders warned that the powers of attorney and proxy voting were vulnerable to exploitation and jeopardised the election’s legitimacy.
There were also constant rumblings that a lobbying group was encouraging resource members to sign over power of attorney to them.
The warnings proved prophetic. On Monday, the day of in-person elections, individuals reportedly arrived at the voting venue with stacks of powers of attorney. It remains unconfirmed at whose behest these individuals appeared.
MyBroadband heard from well-placed sources that some of the powers of attorney presented were for Afrinic members who had registered for e-voting and already cast their ballot.
Other Afrinic members said that powers of attorney for their companies were presented, which they never signed.
ISPA opens criminal case
In a statement issued on Wednesday, ISPA said the elections had serious problems, including a complete lack of transparency.
It said some individuals arrived at the venue with more than 800 purported powers of attorney, when Afrinic has fewer than 2,400 members.
There was also an incident in which a duly authorised representative of a resource holder attempted to vote, only to be informed that another person had already submitted a vote on their behalf.
Another representative of a resource holder learned that a power of attorney had been submitted on their behalf and requested a copy.
Despite the existence of the power of attorney being recorded, it had been mysteriously removed from the record by the time a copy was requested.
“There have been multiple additional reports from other organisations around Africa that individuals appear to have voted on their behalf based on seemingly fraudulent powers of attorney,” ISPA stated.
ISPA said these concerns were brought before the chairs of Afrinic’s nominations and elections committees during the course of voting on Monday.
“While the nominations committee chairperson did eventually ‘suspend’ voting, it has become abundantly clear that the option for unlimited in-person voting based on unverified powers of attorney has opened up the Afrinic election to manipulation and potential fraud,” said ISPA.
“Consequently, ISPA’s attorney opened a criminal case with the Mauritian police on Monday evening.”
ISPA called on Afrinic and the official receiver to cooperate fully with the police investigation and nullify the “suspended” election.
It also demanded that a full list of the organisations on whose behalf powers of attorney were submitted to Afrinic so they could be made aware of the possible misrepresentation of their organisations.
Afrinic and the receiver must also review the election guidelines and mechanisms to ensure in-person voting representatives wielding powers of attorney are subject to appropriate verification.
“This must require a positive confirmation from the relevant resource holder,” ISPA stated.
“It is vital to the development of the Internet in Africa that an election for Afrinic’s Board should take place as swiftly as possible. However it is imperative that the election process be free and fair.”