The Nyarugunga Primary Court in Kicukiro District has remanded former chief executive of Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) James Sano and the managing director of Energy Development Corporation Ltd (EDCL) Emmanuel Kamanzi for 30 days.

The court also remanded for the same period Niyibizi Mbanzabigwi, the coordinator of an energy project in EDCL, a co-accused to Kamanzi.

The three were arrested by Police earlier this month as part of investigations into different illegalities in awarding public tenders and mismanagement of public resources.

They had all applied for bail during their arraignment on Thursday.

Reading the decision, the presiding judge turned down their plea for bail owing "to the seriousness of the crimes they stand accused of.”

The judge added that owing to the evidence so far adduced by prosecution, there was prima facie case for them to answer and that there was likelihood of the suspects interfering with investigations if released on bail.

The judge said even the bond presented by some of the suspects did not meet the legally required threshold.

According to the law, the money presented by the accused as cash bond must be twice the amount of money the suspect is accused of misusing or swindling.

The defendants, who had denied all charges against them on Thursday and were not in court yesterday, were given five days to appeal the decision if they wish to.

The charges

Prosecution on Thursday told the court that Sano misused public funds that resulted into many Rwandans not getting access to clean water.

Prosecution also pinned Sano on unnecessary spending on rent for the current headquarters of the utility near Remera along Airport Road, saying the decision was inexplicable since the water utility had moved from a facility it owned into a rental.

The new premises is rented at Rwf26 million per month. When they occupied the new offices late last year, WASAC paid Rwf945.5 million for a three-year rent, according to prosecution.

In defence, Sano, who was replaced as the water utility boss early this month, insisted that all decisions were made by the company’s board of directors, adding that he never took any unilateral decision.

He also justified the move to the new premises, saying the old premises in downtown Kigali were smaller and could not accommodate all staff.

Meanwhile, Kamanzi, who is also accused of misusing public funds, was pinned on authorising the purchase of electric poles and transformers, which turned out to be defective.

According to prosecution, Kamanzi, on August 19, 2015, signed an agreement with a company that was meant to supply 1,000 electric poles of which 400 turned out to be defective.

Despite this breach of contract, however, prosecutors accuse Kamanzi of authorising payment of up to 90 per cent of the total cost to the contractor.

In mitigation, Kamanzi said the agreement is still valid because the company hasn’t yet been paid the remaining 10 per cent.

Incompatible transformers

Prosecution added that, on July 9 July 9, 2015, Kamanzi signed another agreement with ABB Ltd to provide the company with 10 transformers, which turned out to be incompatible to the Rwanda electrical network.

The accused, instead of taking action against the supplier, ordered for an additional 75 transformers of the same type, the court head.

Mbanzabigwi is a co-accused on these charges.

Kamanzi was also separately accused of unauthorised use of the company’s vehicle in the first days of his appointment in 2015.

He denied the charges, arguing that both the Ministry of Infrastructure and that of Finance and Economic Planning were aware of the purchases and were appraised on every step of the transaction.

However, Kamanzi admitted to using the company vehicle in his own interests, a mistake he had previously acknowledged and for which he sought forgiveness in a letter to the Minister of Infrastructure.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw