Justice sector commits to prosecute corruption, financial crimes

Various stakeholders in the justice sector have agreed to the need to review some laws with loopholes that they say allow some crimes to go unpunished. Chief Justice Prof Sam Rugege said this while closing the anti-corruption week last Friday. The week whose theme was ‘Rights are not bought and marked from last Monday to Friday, was dedicated to combat graft in courts. Special attention was also put on handling corruption cases. The Chief Justice said during the anti-corruption campaign involved different experts in justice sector, investigators, prosecutors, ombudsman, and Auditor General Office. It agreed on new measures to address challenges that are still affecting investigation and prosecution of corruption and financial crimes. Among the challenges discussed, he said, included lack of evidence to prosecute corruption cases, limited skills and capacity for investigation, and some loopholes in the laws. “Experts highlighted some laws with gaps which leave some crimes not punished despite causing loss to government. Experts in the justice sector came up with measures which can help reduce various challenges including reforming some of the laws that leave room for suspects to go scot free,” he stated. He said stakeholders also resolved to improve coordination of different institutions that play a role in fighting corruption while increasing skills and capacity of investigators and courts to pursue corruption and financial crimes. “The new measures are intended to complement the existing long-term measures of eliminating corruption in courts and improving service delivery. The measures also include fast-tracking judgment of cases while mainstreaming ICT use in courts,” he added. Rugege said courts already have anti-corruption committees in place. Reports show that since 2005, 35 staffers (judges and court registrars) have been fired over corruption. Parfait Busabizwa, the Vice-Mayor in charge of Finance and Economic Development and acting mayor of City of Kigali, called for more sensitisation among people on laws that protect their rights instead of paying bribes. “Corruption is a cancer that devastates investment and then national economic development. Everyone must be aware of their rights and laws that protect them against corruption,” he said. Since 2016, up to 324 corruption cases have been handled, with just 51 still pending. Up to 27 were concluded during the anti corruption week undertaken by the judiciary. At least 1,385 cases involving financial crimes were received in courts last year of which 1,009 suspects were convicted (73 per cent) while the rest were acquitted. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Justice sector commits to prosecute corruption, financial crimes