Former Nyamasheke mayor Jean-Baptiste Habyarimana has become the third district leader in Western Province to be detained in relation to ‘forgery’ and a possible embezzlement of public funds, particularly money meant for the community health insurance, Mutuelle de Sante.

Habyarimana was arrested on Tuesday, barely five days after he is currently detained at Kicukiro Police Station in Kigali as investigations continue, Police said.

"We are holding him over a possible misuse of public funds and forging official documents,” Police Spokesperson Celestin Twahirwa told The New Times.

"We have enough evidence pinning him,” he added.

Habyarimana, who served as the mayor of Nyamasheke from 2009, stepped down last Thursday, the same day the former mayor of Karongi Bernard Kayumba also resigned.

At the time of their resignation, Police were already investigating possible ‘tampering with official documents’ –which was termed as forgery – and a suspected misappropriation of Mutuelle de Sante premiums.

Kayumba was detained the following day and Police said he had been arrested over misuse of public funds and forgery.

The duo is detained following the arrest of the mayor of the south-western district of Rusizi, Oscar Nzeyimana, his deputy for social affairs Basile Bayihiki and six other district officials over similar allegations.

Nzeyimana and his co-accused are currently on trial on charges of forging and manipulating official documents. On Tuesday, prosecution requested for 30 days provisional detention of the suspects to allow investigations to continue.

The court’s decision is yet to be delivered.

Malpractices exposed

A recent audit commissioned by the Western Province, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Local Government exposed worrying inconsistencies between the recorded number of subscribers and the total premiums.

The audit also raised fears that subscriptions paid by members to the Mutuelle scheme in the three districts might have been mismanaged and embezzled.

Sources privy to the investigations had earlier told this newspaper that auditors unearthed what looks like a massive fraud in the Mutuelle de Sante in the three districts.

Auditors and investigators found out that Rusizi, Nyamasheke and Karongi districts were highly indebted to local hospitals and health centres, something that has affected the operations and services of the health facilities.

This newspaper established that Rusizi and Nyamasheke recorded around Rwf700 million each, while Karongi recorded between Rwf300 million and Rwf400 million in Mutuelle arrears.

Other alleged malpractices unearthed by investigators include connivance with pharmacies to ‘doctor’ prescriptions by lying about the amount of medication given to individual patients, which inflated medical bills, parallel Mutuelle receipts, which led to diversion of some premiums and mismatches between the number of subscribers and collected premiums, among others.

Investigations are ongoing.

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