Man arrested for allegedly impersonating Gitwaza

Police in Kigali are holding a man suspected of fleecing faithful of an unspecified amount of money through the social networking site Facebook, by masquerading as Apostle Paul Gitwaza, the evangelical church’s founding senior pastor. The suspect, identified as Marius Kubwimana, was arrested in Kigali while trying to withdraw some of the money from a commercial bank allegedly wired by a US-based victim. Police Spokesperson for Kigali Supt. Modeste Mbabazi confirmed the arrest, saying the suspect was arrested while trying to withdraw Rwf360,000 from an Equity Bank branch in town. “At first, we identified him through a fake Facebook account through which he was posing as a pastor and was able to receive donations purportedly meant for the church,” Mbabazi said. The suspect opened the account under the username of Apostle Dr Gitwaza Paul Muhirwa and had attracted over 9,100 followers on his page. The suspect had spent years impersonating Gitwaza, according to officials at the church. Floribert Nzabakira, the Zion Temple communications officer, told The New Times that Kubwimana had been posing as “a pastor at the church since 2011”. He said most of his victims were based abroad. “Even the arrest came while he was attempting to withdraw the funds he had received from one of the leaders of a Zion Temple affiliate church in Carolina, US,” added Nzabakira. He claimed that the suspect had connived with an unidentified woman who posed as a Zion Temple Diaspora account manager to defraud unsuspecting Christians. “The case was reported to Police last year and investigations started immediately, leading to the arrest,” Nzabakira said. It was not immediately clear how much money the suspect could have obtained as a result of posing as Apostle Gitwaza. Zion Temple has more than 50 affiliate churches in Rwanda and abroad, Nzabakira said. Supt Mbabazi warned the public against cyber crimes, impersonation, among others. He said Police was planning sensitisation campaigns to warn the public against cyber crimes. Impersonation, upon conviction, attracts between five and seven years in jail, and/or a fine of between Rwf300,000 and Rwf3 million. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Man arrested for allegedly impersonating Gitwaza