32 local officials implicated in expropriation scam

• 16 under custody The Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating 32 local government officials implicated in crimes related to embezzlement and corruption during an expropriation exercise of home owners in Kigali City, The New Times has learnt. According to a document obtained from the Prosecutor General’s Office, of the 32 suspects, sixteen are being held by the Police as investigations are conducted. Augustine Nkusi the Spokesman of the Prosecutor General’s Office said that the 32 are former local officials who were charged with evaluating the land and assets of individuals before they were expropriated. “The amount they would give to the initial land owners differed from the amount they had in the records; this means that there were some irregularities in the exercise,” he pointed out. The document also names 16 other people who are being investigated but are not in custody. It also lists seven people who have been released temporarily by courts of law. The prosecution is also looking for seven others featured on the list but are in hiding or could have fled the country. The list also names two individuals who have disappeared with no trace yet; those are Bonaventure Ngendahimana and a one Bernard (no second name given in the document The New Times has seen). The irregularity cases reportedly occurred in three different sites namely: Kinyinya, a Kigali city suburb; Rugando, where the construction of the mega Convention Center is underway and in Kinyaga Cell of Bumbogo Sector where the Free Trade Zone(FTZ) is expected to be constructed. FTZ expropriation had at least 100 ghost tenants discovered on the list of those seeking compensation. Those implicated were officials charged with land allocation at sector level. Most of the irregularities were unearthed by the Prosecutor General’s office during the verification exercise. In normal procedures, officials carry out asset assessment process before the expropriation exercise and the bonafide residents are compensated in terms of money or new locations. Ends

National

32 local officials implicated in expropriation scam