KIGALI - The Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS), on Wednesday, temporarily closed Kobil and Source Oil petrol stations in Nyarutarama and Kinamba areas respectively, after unearthing a fraudulent rip-off.

An RBS communiqué released yesterday, notes that the measure was taken in order to protect consumers from being defrauded by dealers and, in the interest of fair trade.

"This was done after finding out that the two petrol stations had tempered with Nozzles that had previously been calibrated and sealed by RBS.

The seals were broken and nozzles intentionally adjusted and delivery settings changed,” says the RBS communiqué.
Only the diesel nozzle at Kinamba Source Oil petrol station had not been tempered with.

The RBS is in charge of promoting standards development, quality management and metrology activities, as well as ensuring their application within the country.

"Tampering with the pumps at the petrol stations was discovered by RBS inspectors in their annual operation of verifying the accuracy of fuel pumps since the previous calibration,” reads the statement.

The standards body stated that by law, the culprits can pay a fine of up to Rwf 2m or pay back the profit unduly benefited from the buyers who were unfairly treated if they are identified or make payments to the public treasury.

"Temporary closure for up to three months and removal or suspension of the trade license is also provided for.”

RBS requested consumers to always be on the lookout and report individuals or companies involved in such rip-offs.

When contacted, the owner of Source Oil petrol stations, Victor Uwimana firmly refuted RBS’s allegations, even accusing the latter of a lack of proper procedures in implementing regulations.

"That is not true at all and, they did not really come across such tampering of their equipment at our station,” Uwimana said, adding that a meeting with RBS is scheduled on Tuesday to iron out issues.

"Normally when you come to place a seal, you are supposed to show it to us, and the seal number, and we sign for them.

They did none of this .They are saying that we broke their seal but it is not true and, they themselves did not follow the right procedures”.

Ends