KIGALI - The Director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has assigned a special team of judicial police to investigate civil servants implicated by the office of the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman recently short-listed a number of government employees who either under-declared their wealth and others who simply did not declare.

"A team of judicial police has been established and tasked to investigate the matter, we cannot give any details now, investigations are still at their primary phase,” Police spokesperson Willy Marcel Higiro told The New Times yesterday.

The report alleges that some civil servants abused public funds and under-declared their wealth for lack of justification on how they had amassed which was not commensurate with their earnings as civil servants.

Higiro said that the team will make a thorough investigation to ascertain claims made in the report before the culpable parties are brought to book.

The Ombudsman launched a separate investigation to check whether the assets declared reflected their official earnings following the wealth declaration exercise by government employees that took place mid last year.

The information contained in the Ombudsman’s report remains confidential but recently, CID boss Asst. Commissioner Christopher Bizimungu, disclosed that twelve prisons officials were implicated.

He however did not divulge the names of these officials whom he only managed to say, had accumulated wealth way above what their earnings could justify.

"We are investigating them to establish whether their assets are justified,”  Bizimungu said in a recent interview, adding that disclosing their names would jeopardize investigations.

Jeanne Mwiseneza, the Director of Declaration Unit in the Ombudsman’s office, told The New Times yesterday that it was not proper to disclose names before gathering all facts surrounding the allegations.

"We have given that report to CID for in-depth investigations, when the allegations are proven to be true, then we can make them public,” said Mwiseneza. 

Government employees are required by law to submit their annual declaration of income, assets and liabilities for verification by June 30 of every year.

The declarations are done to promote the policy of zero tolerance to corruption the country has adopted.

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