Customer Terms and Conditions
1. Introduction
This Agreement contains the complete terms and conditions that apply to your
participation in Golis Telecom’s Mobile Money Transfer Service and supersedes
all other agreements entered into between you and Golis Telecom with respect to
the Sahal mobile money transfer Services. By participating in or continuing to
use the Sahal Service you shall be deemed to be making an affirmative statement
of your acceptance of these terms and conditions.
2. Definitions
“Account” means your Sahal Account, being the record maintained by us of the
amount of E-Money from time to time held by you and represented by an
equivalent amount of cash held by the Trustee on your behalf;
“Cash” means the lawful currency of the Republic of Somalia;
“E Money” means the electronic monetary value depicted in your Sahal Account
representing an equal amount of Cash held by the Trustee and which may be
redeemed through a Sahal outlet for an equal amount of Cash;
“Foreign National” means a person who is not a citizen of Somalia irrespective
of whether the person is permanently resident in Somalia.
“Log Book” means the book maintained by the cashier in which all Transactions
are recorded and which serves as conclusive evidence of the successful
completion of those Transactions;
“Manager” means a person who is legally authorised to access funds in your
Sahal account in the event of your permanent disability;
“Network” means the Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (“GSM”)
system operated by Golis Telecom and covering those areas within the Federal
Republic of Somalia, as stipulated from time to time by us;
“Sahal Services” or “Sahal” means the money transfer services provided by
Golis Telecom including issuance, management and redemption;
“Sahal System” or “Sahal” means the system operated by Golis Telecom
providing the Sahal Services;
“Outlet Operator” means the assistant attending to you at a Golis Telecom
Outlet;
“Outlet” means any shop, unit or other retail premises or portion thereof
operated by Golis Telecom;
“Participant” or “User” means any person that participates in the Sahal System
by using the Sahal Services to send or receive money and includes any person
that facilitates the redemption of E-Money;
“PIN” means your personal identification number being the password you
choose to access and operate your Account and includes the one-time 4-digit PIN
sent to you on registration for the purpose of activating your Account;
“Pre-paid Airtime” means mobile phone calling credit on Golis Telecom’s
Network;
“Registration Form” means the registration form containing registration details
and your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions;
“Golis Telecom Products and Services” means any products and services
provided to you by Golis Telecom whether under this Agreement or otherwise.
“SIM Card” means the subscriber identity module which when used with the
appropriate mobile phone equipment enables you to use the Sahal Services;
“SMS” means a short messaging service that enables the transmission of text
messages from one mobile phone to another;
“Successor” means a person who is legally authorised to access funds in your
Sahal account in the event of your death;
“Transaction” means the movement of money in to, or out of your Sahal
Account;
“You” or “your” means the Sahal Customer who has registered to use the Sahal
Service;
3. Service Description
a. Golis Telecom operates the Sahal mobile money transfer service that
allows you to send and receive money through your registered mobile
phone.
b. Sahal is available to all Golis Telecom subscribers upon registration for
the Sahal Services and your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
Customers on other Networks may have limited range of functionality.
c. You may register for a Sahal Account with any Golis Telecom shop by
completing the Registration Form.
d. Golis Telecom may in its absolute discretion restrict or limit the number
of accounts you may operate at any one time.
e. By registering to use the Sahal Service you agree to these Terms and
Conditions (the “Terms and Conditions”), which shall form a legally
binding agreement between you and Golis Telecom.
f. Golis Telecom may in its absolute discretion revoke the registration of any
person on the Sahal System.
g. You may acquire E-Money in your Sahal account by depositing Cash at a
Sahal outlet or receiving a remittance of E-Money from another Sahal
Participant, through an international money remittance from a
participating remittance service provider or through any other acceptable
means that Golis Telecom may provide.
h. All Transactions shall be denominated currently in USD.
i. Your Cash represented as E-Money is held in trust for you by the Trustee
by virtue of the Trust Deed under which the Trustee declared itself trustee
of the moneys held for you in the Account and other Participants as
beneficiaries in accordance with the trusts declared by the Trust Deed. By
participating in and/or continuing to use the Sahal Services you
acknowledge the sufficiency of the Trust Deed as creating a valid trust over
funds held by the Trustee on your behalf upon the terms therein specified
j. You acknowledge that the Trustee may treat the records of the Sahal
System as conclusive evidence of the amount of E-Money at any time
standing to the credit of your Account and the Trustee is not bound to
make any independent investigation of your beneficial entitlement to the
Cash held in trust.
k. Subject to the prescribed Transaction limits and the provisions of these
Terms and Conditions, the balance of your Sahal account is redeemable
at any time and shall be disposed of only in accordance with your
instructions given via the Sahal System.
l. You acknowledge that Sahal is neither a bank nor a deposit-taking
institution.
4. Account Opening and Maintenance
a. The following conditions must be met before opening an Sahal account in
your name:
b. You must be at least 18 years old with capacity to enter into contracts.
c. You must have a Sahal enabled SIM card through which you may access
the Sahal services.
d. You must complete the Registration Form and submit it when duly
completed and signed by you. For the avoidance of doubt a completed
Registration Form shall bear your name as it appears on your ID and such
other information as may be required.
e. You must provide sufficient proof of identification (ID) as requested by
SAHAL officers. Copies of the ID provided may be retained by the staff
facilitating your registration.
f. You must not provide any false, inaccurate, incomplete or misleading
information.
g. Notwithstanding the generality of the foregoing, a person with Parental
Authority may open and maintain an account in their name for and on
behalf of a minor. For purposes of this agreement, a person with Parental
Authority shall include the birth parents of a minor, legal guardian,
school-master or other person who can demonstrate legitimate authority
over the minor’s affairs.
h. You are responsible for ensuring that your registration details are
maintained up to date.
i. Golis Telecom may reject your application at its discretion if any of the
account opening requirements are not met or if you fail to provide us with
satisfactory proof of identification.
j. Golis Telecom reserves the right to request further information pertaining
to your account at any time failure to which may result in limitation on
usage of the Sahal Service, suspension or termination of the account.
k. Accounts on higher tiers shall have higher annual Transaction limits as
may be determined by Golis Telecom.
l. No interest will be paid on any funds held in your Sahal Account.
m. You can trace back transactions done by using Sahal feature available.
Golis has no obligation to print out hard copy report/statement.
n. If you lose your SIM card or phone is stolen you must report immediately
by using “report a lost sim feature” which is accessible to all Sahal
subscribers. You must visit to their nearest service center or contact call
centers to receive “customer support service.”
5. Privacy terms
a. Golis Telecom recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy of all
information provided by users of Sahal. This statement is meant to affirm
our utmost respect for your rights to privacy.
b. Golis Telecom collects personally identifiable information that we use to
profile Sahal Users and administer individual Sahal accounts, update
Sahal databases, and provide User support.
c. Save as provided hereunder, Golis Telecom does not share your personal
information with unauthorized persons and adequate safeguards have
been put in place to prevent unauthorized access and to ensure
confidentiality of your personal information.
d. You acknowledge that by using the Sahal Services, some of your personal
information will be passed on to any person whom you receive E-Money
from, or send E-Money to and will be available to any third party involved
in the operation of the service including without limitation, ATM Switch
providers and vendors of the Sahal money transfer technology platform.
You hereby authorise Golis Telecom to share with, provide or disclose to
third parties with which you have separately contracted or with which you
intend to contract (and have informed Golis Telecom of this intention in
writing or electronically through the Sahal System), your personal
information including any Transaction data, information pertaining to you
or your Sahal Account, or your usage of Golis Telecom Products and
Services provided that the authority given to Golis Telecom to disclose
information to such third parties (not being a law enforcement,
investigative or regulatory authority) pursuant to this clause may be
withdrawn at any time.
e. You acknowledge that Golis Telecom may verify your identity information
through publicly available and/or restricted government databases in
order to comply with regulatory requirements.
f. You accept that Golis Telecom shall have the right to monitor your account
usage and may disclose personal information to local law enforcement or
investigative agencies or any competent regulatory or governmental
agencies to assist in the prevention, detection or prosecution of money
laundering activities, fraud or other criminal activities;
g. Golis Telecom employees who handle personal information are under an
obligation to treat it confidentially and may not disclose it to unauthorized
third parties. Golis Telecom employees are also responsible for the internal
security of the information. Employees who violate Golis Telecom’s privacy
policies are subject to a range of disciplinary actions.
h. Any person submitting any information to Golis Telecom through the
Sahal System may be granted access rights to that information. Golis
Telecom has developed systems that enable access and correction of
information submitted to it.
6. Account Usage
a. After your account has been opened and activated, you will be able to
initiate the following Transactions:
i. load E-Money through a Golis Telecom outlet;
ii. send E-Money to and receive E-Money from other users;
iii. withdraw Cash from your Account through Sahal outlet;
iv. withdraw Cash from your Account through participating ATM
networks;
v. buy Golis Telecom Prepaid Airtime;
vi. pay utility bills or make one-off or periodic payments or remittances
to participating utility providers, financial institutions charity
organisations, etc.;
vii. pay for goods purchased from participating “Buy Goods” merchants;
viii. manage your Account (e.g. check balance inquires, change PIN, etc.);
and
ix. any other Transactions as may be introduced by Golis Telecom or
financial institution partners from time to time.
b. Golis Telecom does not warrant that all functionalities shall be available
at all times and may withdraw any functionality or the Sahal Service in
general as a direct result of new or amended legislation, statutory
instrument, Government regulations or policy or any other compelling
reason.
c. Golis Telecom may provide additional functionality on the Sahal menu
following integration with platforms of financial institutions and other
entities providing you with specified services. Such functionality may give
you limited access to platforms of the financial institutions or other
entities. By using such functionality to gain access to other platforms, you
hereby agree to indemnify Golis Telecom against, and hold Golis Telecom
harmless from any losses arising from your access to such external
platforms.
d. In the event of any review of our business planning, technical, public
interest or operational reasons, changes within the industry,
recommendations from regulatory bodies or similar events, Golis Telecom
may vary these Terms and Conditions or policies affecting usage and shall
notify you of such changes through appropriate means. Your continued
use of the Sahal Service shall be deemed to be your acceptance of all such
varied terms and conditions or polices.
7. Sahal Access Responsibility
a. Access to the Sahal Services is PIN protected. You hereby agree to guard
your PIN and not to disclose it to any third party including Sahal Outlet
Operators, Golis Telecom staff or any person purporting to have authority
to ask for it.
b. You acknowledge that you shall be solely responsible for the security of
your PIN. Golis Telecom shall not be liable for any disclosure of your PIN
to any third party and you hereby agree to hold Golis Telecom harmless
from any losses that result from any PIN disclosure.
c. You are responsible for all instructions given to Golis Telecom in relation
to your Sahal Account.
d. Golis Telecom shall deem each correct PIN entry as being performed by the
legitimate owner of the Sahal account and shall regard all subsequent
Transactions as validly performed by you.
8. Loading eMoney
a. You may load E-Money into your Sahal Account only and not directly into
another Sahal participant’s Sahal Account.
b. In order to load E-Money, you must complete the information requested,
including passing the identity and security validation and verification
procedures to ascertain that you are the owner of the account and then
hand over Cash equivalent to the E-Money sought to be loaded to the Sahal
cashier.
c. After handing over the Cash to the Sahal cashier, you receive real time
SMS notification you must read the message and check your balance while
you’re at the outlet by doing so, will serve as conclusive evidence that you
have successfully completed the deposit Transaction.
d. Golis Telecom reserves the right to prescribe Transaction limits and may
allocate some Sahal Accounts with higher or lower limits.
9. Transferring eMoney
a. Transaction limits as prescribed by Golis Telecom shall apply each time
you use the “Send Money”, “Pay Bill”, “Buy Goods” or other functionalities
that effect the transfer of funds from your Sahal Account.
b. Your Transaction request will not be completed:
i. If you have insufficient funds in your Sahal Account to complete a
Transaction;
ii. If you have reached the maximum Account balance limit prescribed
by Golis Telecom;
iii. If you have reached the daily limit prescribed by Golis Telecom;
iv. If your Account has been temporarily suspended or permanently
frozen on valid grounds;
v. If there is any other compelling reasons such as temporary system
delay or outage.
c. You may send E-Money to any Participant on the Sahal system as well as
any mobile telephone user on Sahal internetwork operators in Somalia by
following the instructions on your phone’s SAHAL menu.
d. If the E-Money in your Sahal Account is not sufficient to carry out your
Transaction request in full, the Transaction will not be completed and no
E-Money will be debited from your SAHAL Account.
e. Upon the successful completion of your Transaction to another Sahal
Participant, Golis Telecom will immediately cause the transfer of the EMoney to the other Participant’s Sahal Account. You and the recipient will
both be notified by SMS as to the completed status of your transaction.
f. Where Golis Telecom is unable to complete a transaction, you will be
notified by SMS as to the reasons for not completing the transaction.
g. Each Transaction you undertake will be accompanied by a unique receipt
number that will appear in the confirmation SMS sent to you and will
include an updated balance of your Account. This receipt number may be
used to track & identify the Transactions carried out on your Account and
the SMS should therefore not be deleted if reliance on it will be required.
h. Upon the successful transmission of E-Money from your Account to
registered recipient’s Sahal account, title to the E-Money will pass to the
recipient.
i. A Transaction once completed is final and irrevocable. As such, Golis
Telecom shall not be under any compulsion to reverse any Transaction.
j. Golis Telecom reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel or reverse
a Transaction if reasonable grounds such as manifest error or fraud are
shown and provided that the recipient has not redeemed the E-Money and
the reversal claim is made within 48 hrs of the erroneous Transaction date.
k. Golis Telecom will not be compelled to refund or compensate the sender if
the E-Money is sent to a recipient mistakenly or in error or fraudulently or
under duress and subsequently redeemed for Cash or otherwise spent by
the recipient of the mistaken, erroneous or fraudulent Transaction and
you hereby agree to hold Golis Telecom harmless for any losses arising
10 | T e r m s a n d C onditions
from a mistaken, erroneous or fraudulent transfer of funds or any transfer
of funds from your account effected under duress or under coercion or
criminal force.
10. Receiving eMoney
a. If you are registered on the Sahal system and you receive an SMS informing
you that you have received E-Money from another Sahal Participant or
through an international money remittance, the E-Money shall be loaded to
your Sahal Account immediately and you may redeem the E-Money at any
Golis Telecom Outlet or participating ATM networks or transfer the funds to
a third party by following the Sahal menu options on your mobile phone.
b. If you receive funds in error, you acknowledge that you shall be obliged to
return the funds to the sender failing which Golis Telecom may reverse the
payment to the sender.
c. You may be liable to face prosecution for consuming or utilising funds sent
to you in error.
11. Withdrawal (Redemption of eMoney)
a. You may withdraw your E-Money at Sahal Outlets by accessing your Account
and following the prompts on your phone’s Sahal menu; however, any
withdrawal Transaction must be initiated and completed within Sahal/Golis
Telecom premises and you must read SMS notification accompanied byt the
transaction and check balance, which will serve as conclusive evidence of the
successful completion of the withdrawal Transaction.
b. ATM Outlets: You may withdraw your E-Money at participating ATM network
Outlets at any time by accessing your Sahal Account and following the
prompts on your phone’s Sahal menu. You will receive a onetime voucher
which should be cashed at participating ATM networks within the prescribed
timeframe. Failure to do so will cause the voucher received to expire.
c. Golis Telecom shall, subject to Transaction limits on the Sahal System,
process the requests you make immediately after being satisfied that the
person making the redemption has passed all identity and security validation
and verification procedures. In the event of a dispute over the redemption of
the funds, it shall be sufficient for Golis Telecom to show a logical association
between the Transaction and the verification of identity and/or security
procedures conducted to ascertain identity of the person entitled to the funds.
12. Intellectual Property
All intellectual property rights in the Sahal Service including the SAHAL
trademark are the property of Golis Telecom and/or its affiliates. Any
unauthorized reproduction, modification, distribution or republication of Sahal
materials or intellectual property, without the express prior written consent of
Golis Telecom and/or its affiliates is strictly prohibited.
13. Suspension Termination and Freezing
a. Golis Telecom reserves the right at its sole discretion to suspend or terminate
the agreement if you use the SAHAL account for unauthorised purposes.
b. Your Account shall be suspended if your SIM has been inactive for a period
of one (1) year or such other period as may be prescribed. In the event of
account suspension for reasons of inactive SIM, Golis Telecom shall archive
your Account and recycle the mobile telephone number associated with your
Account as required by law. Money held to your credit shall not be lost by
virtue of archiving your Account or recycling of your mobile telephone number
and shall be availed to you upon notice by you of the activation of a new
mobile telephone number.
c. You acknowledge that Golis Telecom may be compelled by law to suspend
and/or freeze your Account or decline to execute your Transaction requests
if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an Account has been or is
being or may be used to receive or send funds in connection with any criminal
or fraudulent activity.
d. You may request your Account to be closed at any time by giving written
notice to Golis Telecom
e. Golis Telecom may, at its discretion, close your Account at any time for any
reason upon giving one (1) weeks’ notice to you and making reasonable
attempts to reach you. In such circumstances, you shall be entitled to the
balance of any funds remaining in your Sahal Account.
f. Golis Telecom may send notices to you electronically by SMS to your mobile
telephone number with which you registered on the Sahal System.
g. This agreement terminates automatically upon the death of the Customer
who has signed up for the Sahal services.
14. Warranties and Limitation of Liability
a. Golis Telecom will report any suspicious account activity to the relevant law
enforcement authority.
b. Golis Telecom shall use all reasonable efforts to ensure that all Transaction
requests are processed in a timely manner. However, Golis Telecom makes no
representations or warranties as to continuous, uninterrupted or secure
access to the Sahal service, which may be affected by factors outside Golis
Telecom’s control, or may be subject to periodic testing, repair, maintenance
or upgrades.
c. Golis Telecom will not be responsible for any claim unless caused by wilful
default attributable to Golis Telecom. Golis Telecom specifically disclaims all
liability for any damages or losses, including, without limitation, direct,
indirect, consequential, special, incidental or punitive damages deemed or
alleged to have resulted from or caused by but not limited to:
i. Transactions made to unintended recipients or payments made in
incorrect amounts due to the input of incorrect information by you;
ii. Transactions made from your account by an unauthorised third
party who passes all identity and verification checks;
iii. any fraud, deception or misrepresentations by any Sahal
Participant, whether or not the Participant has been verified,
iv. any damages resulting from a recipient’s decision not to accept or
record a Transaction made by you through the Sahal system,
v. failure of any other telecommunications or data transmission
system other than the Sahal system;
vi. any result of any acts of government or authority, any act of God or
force majeure.
d. The limit of Golis Telecom’s liability shall not exceed the maximum Account
balance limit for the time being in force for any single event or series of events.
e. You agree to indemnify and hold Golis Telecom harmless against any claim
brought against Golis Telecom by a third party resulting from your breach of
these Terms and Conditions.
15. Dispute Resolution and Governing Law
a. You may contact Golis Telecom Customer Care for any disputes, claims or to
report Account discrepancies. Golis Telecom Customer Care shall handle the
report in accordance with Golis Telecom’s standard complaint handling
procedures.
b. In certain circumstances Golis Telecom in conjunction with participating
merchants may provide for dispute resolution mechanisms. You agree to
abide by such mechanisms as may be advised by Golis Telecom or the
participating merchants/businesses from time to time.
c. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Agreement that is not
resolved by Golis Telecom Customer Care may be brought to the attention of
the Golis Telecom Manager responsible for the operations of the Sahal
Services for resolution.
d. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Agreement that is not
resolved by the Golis Telecom Manager responsible for the operations of the
Sahal Services shall be referred to arbitration by a single arbitrator to be
appointed by agreement between the parties or in default of such agreement
within 60 days of the notification of a dispute, upon the application of either
party.
e. To the extent permissible by Law, the determination of the Arbitrator shall be
final, conclusive and binding upon the parties hereto.
f. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to exclude any legally recognised
dispute resolution body from receiving, hearing and determining the dispute.
g. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the
laws of the Federal Republic of Somalia.
16. Disclosure and Data Retention
a. You hereby expressly consent and authorize Golis Telecom to disclose any
Transaction data or information pertaining to your Sahal Account to any law
enforcement, investigative or regulatory authority including without
limitation the Somalia Police, Central Bank of Somalia, or any competent
Anti-Money Laundering authority for the purposes of any genuine enquiry or
investigation or to any third party to which you have separately, either in
writing or electronically through the Sahal System or otherwise, authorised
Golis Telecom to disclose Transaction data or information pertaining to you
or your usage of Golis Telecom Products and Services, including your Sahal
account provided that any consent given to Golis Telecom to disclose
information to any third party (not being a law enforcement, investigative or
regulatory authority) pursuant to this clause may be withdrawn at any time.
b. You acknowledge that where your Account is determined by a competent
judicial authority as containing proceeds of any criminal or money laundering
activities, Golis Telecom may be required by law to surrender funds in your
account to any statutory fund created for the purpose of recovering the
proceeds of crime.
c. You acknowledge that Golis Telecom may retain your Transaction data for a
period of up to seven (7) years or as may be required by any law or regulation.
17. Force Majeure
Neither Party shall be liable to the other Party for any delay or failure to perform
its obligations under these Terms and Conditions as a result of revolution or
other civil disorders; belligerent aggression by an enemy; strikes; lack of available
resources from persons other than parties to this Agreement; labour disputes;
electrical equipment or system availability delay or failure; fires; floods; acts of
God; government or regulatory intervention; or, without limiting the foregoing,
any other causes not within its control, and which by the exercise of reasonable
diligence it is unable to prevent, whether of the class of causes hereinbefore
enumerated or not. If such delay or failure continues for at least thirty (30) days
then either Party may terminate their engagement by notice in writing to the
other. Upon such termination all Cash held in trust for you in the Sahal System
shall be made good to you.
18. General
a. Using your personal Sahal account to carry out Sahal transactions on behalf
of another person is prohibited and may expose you to criminal liability under
the Proceeds of Crime & Anti-Money Laundering Act. You may not use, or
permit the use of your Sahal account to carry out any transactions on behalf
of any other person.
b. You acknowledge that these Terms and Conditions are subject to amendment,
modification or variation from time to time if required by, or found to be in
conflict with, applicable law or regulation or otherwise without affecting the
validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions.
c. These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between the
parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersede and replace
any and all prior terms. In the event of inconsistency between these Terms
and Conditions and previous editions, this version will prevail.
d. These Terms and Conditions may be amended by Golis Telecom from time to
time as Golis Telecom introduces new Sahal functionalities. Such amended
Terms and Conditions may be published in posters or pamphlets available at
Golis Outlets, in the daily newspapers and/or on the Golis Telecom website
from time to time and shall take effect immediately upon publication.
e. Golis Telecom’s failure to exercise or enforce any right under these Terms and
Conditions shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any such right nor shall it
prevent Golis Telecom from exercising or enforcing the rights in question at
any time.
f. You may not transfer any rights or obligations you may have under this
Agreement without Golis Telecom’s prior written consent.
You must not use the Sahal service for the receipt of or payment for goods or
services that offend or circumvent any law including without limitation, narcotic
drugs, firearms, obscene or pornographic material or services, participation in
pyramid or Ponzi schemes, infringement of third party intellectual rights,
running illegal or unauthorised lotteries, gaming or gambling, as well as material
that is morally repugnant; incites violence or desires to cause harm; induces an
unacceptable sense of fear or anxiety; encourages or incites any person to engage
in dangerous practices or to use harmful substances; induces or promotes tribal,
religious or racial disharmony; causes grave or widespread offence; or debases,
degrades or demeans others.
Without prejudice to the provisions of these terms and conditions, where Golis
Telecom receives notification of the death or mental incapacity of a Sahal user,
Golis Telecom shall suspend all Account activity until satisfied that the relevant
provisions of the Succession Act or the Mental Health Act (as the case may be)
have been followed.
A person claiming access to funds by virtue of being a Successor (in the event of
death) or Manager (in the event of permanent incapacity) shall, upon request by
Golis Telecom, produce letters of administration/grant of probate (in the event
of death) or a court order authorizing the person to manage the estate (in the
event of permanent incapacity) or such other document as may be prescribed.
If the Courts appoint a Successor or Manager, as the case may be, Golis Telecom
shall rely on such appointment of Successor or Manager in its decision to
transmit funds held to the credit of your account to the Successor or Manager
upon the event of your death or permanent incapacity (as the case may be).
