KIGALI - A deep row over missing funds is threatening cohesion within the leadership of the Rwandan Seventh Day Adventist Church. The controversy, which has been running for years, revolves around the whereabouts of millions of worshippers’ funds, and under the spotlight is the Church’s treasurer, Abel Habiyambere

The case became more pronounced after the Church administration failed to account for a cheque of Frw8.4 million that was issued to a person who is currently in detention at Kigali Central Prison.

"Leaders at the Rwanda Union Mission Seventh Day Adventist Church hold prayers every morning before commencing work. One morning, people were surprised when the treasurer asked for prayers saying that the Mission had been robbed.

The following day, he said that God had answered their prayers because a suspect had been arrested in connection with the theft,” a church source told The New Times on condition of anonymity.

Habiyambere said that it had come to the Church’s knowledge that someone had fraudulently withdrawn money from the church’s account in BCR.

He said that when an accountant went to BCR to collect some cheque books, he found that a leaf was missing from one of the cheque books.

"We have since written to the bank informing them what happened but it has not attended to the problem,” Habiyambere told this newspaper from his office.

He pointed to a possible connivance between bank staff and some conmen.

"The arrested suspect is also said to have withdrawn other people’s money from other banks. Banks have a responsibility to protect clients’ deposits lest they lose public trust,” he added.

He said that on August 28, 2007, he wrote a letter to the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) about the case, indicating that money was fraudulently withdrawn from the church’s account number 0000040-01-08.

"We do not understand how the person in the name of Angelique Murakatete, suspected to have taken the money, might have got information about our cheque books,” reads part of the two-page letter, a copy of which The New Times has seen.

Habiyambere also claimed that BCR declined to give them a copy of the cheque. He added that he sent three letters to the bank over the same issue in August, 2007 and February, 2008, requesting that it traces the money and put it back on the church’s account.

"We have discovered that a cheque numbered 04608362 that was missing from one of the cheques books we obtained from the bank was the one used to withdraw the money,” one letter addressed to BCR Managing Director reads in part.

The church went on to say that the signatures that appeared on the said cheque were not genuine, and that one of the signatories (the Mission head) was outside the country at the time of the withdrawal.

The church charged that such cases were becoming common in BCR, citing another case in which ADRA’s (an Adventist NGO) was defrauded of $20,000 from its account number 0026439-43-82.

However, in a response in a letter dated November 1, 2007, BCR denied any wrongdoing, saying that the cheque was valid.

In a letter jointly signed by the bank’s Customer Service Manager Beatrice Umwiza and and Byishimo Faustin, Retail Network Business Manager, they said that before the transaction was conducted, the bank consulted the church through a telephone number appearing on the church’s bank account records.

"The cheque was genuine and signed by an authority from Rwanda Union Mission of Seventh Day Adventist church,” added the bank’s Public Relations Officer, Hannington Namara.

The bank officials said clients are responsible for their own accounts, adding that the bank at one time ran a campaign sensitizing the general public to keep their cheques safely.

Namara said that the bank will only assume responsibility if it is proven beyond doubt that it failed to undertake its obligations. 

One correspondence also shows that BCR is the one which notified Police about the case resulting in the arrest of one Angelique Murekatete, who had withdrawn the money in question.

According to minutes of a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of Rwanda Association dated June 14, 2000, the committee raised concerns on various financial abuses allegedly committed by Abel Habiyambere.

The committee asked the administration of Rwanda Union Mission of the Seventh Day Adventist Church to demand explanations from Habiyambere.

In another letter dated May 21, 2003 written by Central Rwanda Association and addressed to the then president of Rwanda Union Mission (RUM), Amon Rugerinyange, it accused Habiyambere of sabotage.

The Church head, Byiringiro, declined to comment referring The New Times to Habiyambere. The source wondered how the alleged fraud was possible since Habiyambere is a signatory to all the Church’s accounts and that he must authorize any bank withdrawal.

However, Habiyambere has denied any responsibility, adding that the two authorizing signatures – including the one for the Mission president, Pastor Hezron Byiringiro – were scanned.

Ends