Two men have been arrested for attempting to induce a police officer with a bribe of Rwf600,000, after their goods had been seized for using fake tax stamps. The two suspects identified as James Muyenzi and Francois Muvandimwe were arrested on May 7 and are currently held at Kicukiro Police Station as investigations continue. The Police Spokesperson for the Central Region, Superintendent Modeste Mbabazi, said that Muyenzi’s local distillery which makes gin brands, was also being investigated for evading tax using forged tax stamps. “When Police confiscated his merchandise after investigations revealed that he was using a forged stamp to make receipts, he called an officer and told him to drop the case and offered him Rwf600,000. The officer alerted his colleagues and when the suspects arrived with the bribe, they were immediately arrested,” Superintendent Mbabazi said. “The other suspect is an accomplice. As we have said over and again, anyone who tries to offer bribes will always be disappointed.” Mbabazi said that the suspects, who initially had been suspected of only one crime of tax evasion, had now attracted another serious charge of bribery, which is heavily punished by the courts of law. Article 641 of the penal code states that any person who proposes directly or indirectly a gift or any other illegal benefit, to a person in charge of a service, or who promises it in order to render a service or to refrain from carrying out any usual duties, shall be liable to a term of imprisonment between five to seven years and a fine of twice to ten times the value of the illegal benefit he/she offered or promised. Counterfeiting stamps and official marks is also punishable with a term of imprisonment of between five to seven years and a fine ranging from Rwf300,000 to Rwf3 million.
