Former director-general of Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) Angélique Kantengwa was yesterday charged with illegal tendering and abuse of public property before the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court.

She is accused of misuse of property of public interest and making a decision based on favouritism, friendship, hatred or nepotism.

Prosecution alleges that in 2011, a company called Case Consultants that was handling the feasibility study of Vision City Estates in Kagugu, Gasbo District, had received Rwf696 million as payment of the work they had done, but when Kantengwa came in as the director-general of RSSB, she trivialised the work done and blocked the remaining payment on grounds that they had not done a good job.

She allegedly irregularly gave the tender to two firms, including Synergy Property Development Services Ltd at a cost of Rwf924 million, to conduct the same job as Case Consultants, leading to financial loss of public funds.

"Synergy Property Development Services Ltd did the job as required but somehow the same job was later given to another company called Studio 4 at Rwf 693 million to do the same job as the other two companies and this did not go through any tendering,” said Prosecutor Rugambwa Ndibwami.

"This caused an average loss of Rwf1.6 billion, while the project also delayed, and, as a result, the houses being constructed will be more expensive,” said the prosecutor.

Prosecution also alleges that Kantengwa unlawfully gave $30,000 to former Ultimate Developers Ltd (UDL) chief Cherno Gaye and termed the finances as ‘a token of appreciation after terminating his contract.

Kantengwa was also the board chair of UDL at the same time. UDL is RSSB’s real estate development wing.

Not guilty plea

However, Kantengwa pleaded not guilty to the charges and asked for bail.

In a lengthy pretrial hearing, Kantengwa argued that she only committed collective administrative errors, detailing what transpired during her tenure at RSSB and as the board chair of UDL.

"The study done by Case Consultants was shoddy; it had been rejected by Kigali City One-Stop Centre on ground that it had no provision for electricity, the road quality had no sewerage plan and provision for piped water. If we had accepted their study, it would require owners of the houses to reconstruct them,” she said.

"All this is documented with proof that Case Consultants Ltd had never done such work before.

To avoid such uncertainties, the board, of which Africa Ramba and John Bosco Birungi were part of, decided to suspend the works. The two were also part of the board that approved Synergy Property Development Services Ltd,” Kantengwa said.

She added that at one point, the board had to meet the minister for finance over the tender that was given to Synergy Property Development Services Ltd to seek guidance.

"I had previously written to Case Consultants instructing them to return the money and this is a case that went as far as courts. For Studio4, this company came in to provide technical expertise to UDL for things that Synergy Property Development Services Ltd could not do,” Kantengwa said.

She said Synergy Property Development Services Ltd had drawn a sophisticated project that the One Stop Centre asked to be revised.

"They revised the project plan twice at no charge but refused to redesign the roads on grounds that they had drawn roads that fit international standards and could not reduce the width since it would affect their reputation as a company. This is when Studio4 came in to redesign other works,” Kantengwa said.

The project in question, Vision City, is currently under construction at an estimated cost of $400 million. Reports indicate that the cheapest unit in the estate may cost Rwf120 million.

Kantengwa’s defence and the prosecution could not agree on bail. The court will pronounce itself on the matter today.