The former state minister for mining, Evode Imena, and his co-accused were today arraigned in Nyarugenge High Court, weeks after they were arrested on corruption charges.

Imena and two former officials in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Francis Kayumba and Jacques Kagabo, the court heard, masterminded a shoddy deal in which a company – that was hurriedly formed for that purpose – was unlawfully given a mining license only for the latter to be sold to another firm for US$20,000 thousand.

The money from the sale of the company was shared among those involved in the illegal act, the prosecutors said.

Kayumba was the director of mining regulation while Kagabo was division manager, mining technical operations.

Prosecution says it all started when Kagabo submitted a report recommending that a company be hired for mining activities in Nduba in Gasabo District and later went on to create a company co-owned by his wife and that of Kayumba.

The company, identified as JDJ [initials for the owners’ first names – with the last ‘J’ allegedly standing for ‘Joseph (Kagabo)], acquired the license illegally after the officials in question influenced members of the internal tender committee to sanction the move.

Kayumba was also the head of the committee, court heard.

Imena, according to prosecution, unlawfully signed the documents approving the tender and yet he was aware of the irregularities involved in the process, including favouritism.

The minister was later notified of the anomalies with which the issue had been handled by other officials to no avail, the prosecutors said.

However, Imena denied the charges and rejected suggestions that he was privy to the dealings that resulted into the creation of the company in question.

He also said the two other defendants were attached to the now defunct Rwanda National Resources Authority and not to the Natural Resources ministry, and did not know their wives in person.