Alain Ndibwami, a Kigali lawyer who was arrested in connection with forgery, is scheduled to appear before the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court, today.The court will hear his appeal following the primary court’s decision to deny him bail.Ndibwami briefly appeared at the Court yesterday. However, the defence counsel was unable to share his submissions with the prosecution prompting the adjourning to today.He is alleged to have used counterfeit documents for a court case, and according to the penal code, anyone found guilty is liable to a prison sentence of up to seven years and a fine not exceeding Rwf3 million.The forged documents include a signature of a government official and a stamp used to issue a document giving the suspect powers of attorney.The forged signature belonged to Mucyo Rutishisha who worked in the State Protocol office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Rutishisha denied any knowledge of the document which resulted into an investigation into the anomalies, prompting the arrest of the lawyer.“He was arrested in possession of a forged document. That is a criminal offence punishable by law,” police spokesperson Damas Gatare said, adding that prosecution is following up the case.Article 609 of the penal code states; “Any person who forges or alters documents by forged signature or fingerprint, falsifying documents or signatures or impersonation, forging agreements, its provisions, obligations shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of more than five years to seven years and a fine of Rwf 300,000 to Rwf 3,000,000.”Efforts to get a comment from the Kigali Bar Association president, Athanase Rutabingwa, were futile as he failed to respond to our multiple phone calls.
