Davis Manzi, the man being prosecuted for allegedly defrauding Rwandans of Rwf 10 billion, reappeared in court on Thursday, October 17 to appeal against a 30-day remand handed him by the primary court of Gasabo.

The 38-year-old businessman, who was first arrested on July 30, is accused of persuading people to invest in his online business Billion Traders FX but failing to pay them the promised dividends.

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Information from Rwanda Investigation Bureau showed that more than 500 people invested up to $10 million in the company. Manzi first appeared in court on August 26, where prosecutors laid out charges including money laundering, fraud, and illicit foreign exchange trading, to him.

Billion Traders FX launched its operations in 2020. Prosecutors argue that at that time, Manzi only possessed a license from Rwanda Development Board (RDB) which only allowed him to engage in regular foreign exchange activities, not online forex trading. With this, they say he carried out online forex trading illegally. They also argued that he promised clients very high and unrealistic promises of profit, where for example, he told potential investors that if they invested $50,000 in his company, they would get a 10 per cent profit in six months and also get their capital back.

Manzi was remanded on August 28 and has been in detention ever since.

Reappearing in court, on Thursday, Manzi and his lawyer informed the intermediate court of Gasabo that they were unsatisfied with the pre-trial detention decision taken by the primary court, because it did not consider key factors.

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The defendant insisted that the RDB certificate he acquired at the beginning of his business was not limited to regular forex exchange, but allowed him to engage in more activities related to forex, though at that time, the country did not have a law governing such online forex trading.

Along with his lawyer, Manzi argued that there is no criminal element in his case, as he cited factors including the fact that he refunded more than 70 percent of the clients’ money before he was arrested, which shows that he has no intentions of breaching the agreement he had with them.

He told court that his detention only complicates the situation for the clients because it makes him unable to repay them, since their money is being held by an Australian company with which he was partnering.

Without divulging much details, his lawyer Stephen Zawadi, said some of Manzi’s clients have made an online petition calling for his release because they see that as the clear way of having their money back.

What prosecutors say

The prosecutors, however, argued that Manzi’s claim that his RDB certificate allowed him to carry out business beyond regular forex exchange is not true.

Court heard that online forex trading requires more authorisation from institutions including Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), which Manzi did not seek.

The court will give its decision on October 28.