Cogebanque boss ordered to leave country

The Managing Director of Cogebanque was on Friday given until Monday (today) to leave the country, it has emerged. While the reasons behind the revocation of Mostafa Ouezekhtis work permit were not immediately clear, sources said the Moroccan national had allegedly been involved in acts that amounted to abuse of office, suspicious transactions, among others. Officials at the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration confirmed the development. On Friday, he was handed an expulsion order and given until September 14 to leave the country, Ange Sebutege, the communications officer at the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration told The New Times yesterday. “It was realised that the person in question had breached provisions stipulated in his working permit, so he is supposed to have left the country not later than Monday,” said Sebutege. Our numerous calls to Ouezekhti’s known mobile phone went unanswered. And efforts to reach authorities at the bank were also futile by press time. Maurice Toroitich, the chairman of the Rwanda Bankers’ Association, said the body’s mandate only deals with matters that affect the industry as a whole as opposed to individual’s conduct. “There are regulations from the central bank on corporate governance and any official in the banking sector, whether national or foreigner, is supposed to abide by them in addition to other laws of the sector and the country in general,” he said in an interview, declining to comment on Ouezekhtis case in particular. “At the association level, we believe the issue is outside our jurisdiction,” said Toroitich, who is the managing director of KCB Bank Rwanda. Cogebanque is the only local bank that is 100 per cent owned by Rwandans. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Cogebanque boss ordered to leave country