Two employees of the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) accused of embezzling Rwf 46m from the national treasury in 2007 will today appear before the High Court to hear the verdict on their appeal against the 5 year sentence they were handed.

The two, Francois Murenzi accused of single-handedly engineering the disappearance of Rwf 20m and Francois Rusagara for taking Rwf 26m from the national coffers, were arrested in 2007 after investigations by the bank’s management unearthed a well-planned scheme by the duo to defraud the Central Bank of millions of francs .

According to Central Bank Governor, Francois Kanimba, the two men who worked in the bank’s teller system interfered with the automated machines and manipulated them to release extra money during withdrawals and would automatically deduct a certain percentage off the client’s deposits.

"What we found out is that they manipulated these automated machines to make them release extra money which they would pocket.

By the time we discovered, it was about 46m and we immediately arrested them and handed them over to authorities,” Kanimba said in an interview.

He said it was also discovered that the workers would give the money to loan sharks commonly known as Banque Lambert, which would be returned with profit.

The two men were each given a 5-year sentence for fraud but appealed in the High Court.

Kanimba said that the money was recovered, adding that measures have been put in place to ensure that banks conduct regular control exercise to avoid the temptation of employees secretly taking out the bank’s money and trade it and return it before the management notices.

He said that all banks are required to control every evening.
Bank control is done to find out the amount of money that came in and went out of the bank over a day’s transactions.

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