Former Minister of State for Culture Edouard Bamporiki has started serving a five-year jail term, after the High Court resolved to add a year to the four-year sentence he initially received from the intermediate court of Nyarugenge in September last year.

The judges at the intermediate court had convicted the politician on two counts: fraudulent acquisition of another person's property and abuse of the authority given to him by the law. He committed these crimes in 2022 when he solicited bribes from businessman, Norbert Gatera, on two occasions, promising to help keep his alcohol factory operational though it was located in a residential area.

Bamporiki also promised to get Gatera’s wife, who was battling corruption-related charges, out of police custody.

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After the intermediate court’s verdict, the prosecutors and the defendant appealed.

Among other things, Bamporiki’s appeal was based on the claim that prosecutors failed to explain how he abused the authority given to him by the law.

Though he admitted to soliciting money from Gatera, Bamporiki said his dealings with the businessman were based on friendship, not his position as a Minister. He argued that the money he received from him was not a bribe, but a token of "thanks” for the help he rendered to him.

Due to such, he requested the judges to drop the "abuse of authority” charge against him.

For the fraudulent acquisition charges, he asked the court to give him a suspended sentence, because, among others, it was his first time to be prosecuted and he cooperated well with the court during the trial by pleading guilty. In addition to this, he pleaded, his wife was not well and he needed to attend to her.

The prosecutors, in their appeal, said there was enough evidence to convict Bamporiki of both crimes, including statements he made in writing during the investigations. In one of such statements, the politician wrote that he was sorry for having solicited and received a "bribe” from Gatera.

Prosecutors argued that Bamporiki was not punished enough by the intermediate court because the four-year jail term he was given was too lenient for people convicted of such crimes.

Issuing the verdict, High Court judges admitted that the intermediate court had not properly applied what is stipulated in the anti-corruption law, because the minimum jail term for the misuse of authority given to a person by the law, is seven years.

Due to the mitigating circumstances – specifically the defendant’s guilty plea and the fact that it was his first time to be prosecuted – the judges decided to reduce the sentence to five years.

The Rwf60 million fine slapped on him by the intermediate court was reduced to Rwf 30 million.

This is because the law stipulates that if the offence is committed with the aim of getting a profit valuable in money, the convict has to pay a fine of three to five times the value of the illegal benefit solicited.

The judges decided to go with a more lenient fine.

They multiplied the Rwf10 million bribe by three, and thus ordered Bamporiki to pay Rwf30 million.