SOUTHERN PROVINCE

MUHANGA — A lawyer from Musanze district has dragged Mayor Felix Sibomana of Nyaruguru district, to court over alleged bribery.

According to the case registered under No. RP 0343/08/TGI/MUHG, at Muhanga Upper Court, Joseph Benoit Yandagiye, alleges that Sibomana bribed a police officer to unfairly imprison his father, Jean-Baptsite Munyakazi in 2005.

This was a day before appearing in court for the final ruling on a commercial case between the deceased and one Papias Ndayambaje. The court is yet to set a day for the hearing.

Sibomana is co-accused with J. Nkurunziza, a former jurisdictions police officer in Muhanga, Papias Ndayambaje and Felicien Ntoye. They are all residents of the Southern Province.

The plaintiff also alleges that the actions of the accused resulted in the death of his father in 2005 after a short illness while in prison. He wants the accused to pay for damages. 

"The death of my father has caused several problems in life and there must be someone to take responsibility for this case which was buried for years and made invalid since 2005,” Yandangiye said.

On April, 26, 2005, Yandangiye wrote to the Ministry of Justice complaining that his father’s case (No. RPGR 1020016/SI/05/MA/NE) was buried and needs to be revisited.

According to the lawyer, Sibomana was a business partner of his brother in-law, Antoine Hakizimana. After the death of Hakizimana, Sibomana and the deceased’s elder brother, Ndayambaje wanted to have more shares by claiming the child of the deceased.

"My late father was a major stumbling block and they wanted to do away with him, so that they can claim all the property after misunderstandings caused by a business conflict,” Yandangiye claims.

When contacted however, the mayor said he was not aware of the new developments although he acknowledged he was aware of the issue.

"I am aware of the lawsuit, but this problem goes back in 2005 when I was a student. After the death of my business partner I asked Yandangiye to return my two cows which I had in the shares with his deceased brother in-law but he refused and since then I left him and have no problem with him,” Sibomana said.

He added, "The fact is that I don’t know anything about his father and his imprisonment. However, I know that Yandangiye has recently published a defamatory story in local papers showing the opposite side of the truth. Others accused in the case couldn’t be reached for comments, by press time.

Ends