Dr Rose Mukankomeje, the director-general of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), is under Police custody for allegedly subverting a criminal investigation, Police have confirmed.

Speaking to The New Times, Police spokesperson Assistant Commission of Police Célestin Twahirwa, said that Mukankomeje was arrested on Sunday over her efforts to sabotage an ongoing investigation involving former leaders in Rutsiro District of the Western Province.

"It’s true, Rose Mukankomeje has been arrested. Preliminary investigations have just started. She is suspected to have been involved in obstructing investigations and plans to destroy evidence in a corruption case that has been going on involving former leaders of Rutsiro District,” he said by phone.

She is currently detained at Kicukiro Police Station.

"We will avail more information as the investigations continue,” Twahirwa said, adding that the investigations are being conducted in collaboration with the Ombudsman’s Office, who he says are taking the lead in the formerly mentioned corruption cases of the former Rutsiro District officials.

The former mayor of Rutsiro, Gaspard Byukusenge, and the former district Executive Secretary, Thomas Murenzi, are in custody since last year over a corruption-related case.

Regarding the consequences in Mukankomeje’s alleged case, Twahirwa said that, "I wouldn’t like to speculate the weight of the case; we will first confirm the evidence and the cases involved, then we will find particular articles of the law implicating her. For now, everything is still under investigations.”