In the news; Alfred Kalisa

He was recently sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of corruption and abuse of office when he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bank of Commerce, Development and Industry (BCDI). Alfred Kalisa was a one time chairman of BCDI and the banks majority share holder with 30 percent shares in the financial institution. But he was ousted from the chairmanship of the bank after it emerged that there was a conflict of interest between the banks management and a chain of businesses he owned in the country. It was alleged that there were acts that amounted to insider trading that became a major concern to the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR). He was replaced by Ephraim Twahirwa. In an exclusive interview with The New Times in 2005, Central Bank governor Francois Kanimba named BCDI as one of the banks that were likely to defy lending practices by lending to influential shareholders. Kalisa also worked as the vice-president of the African Round Table, and was one time economics adviser to the President. He also held the position of president of the Private Sector Federation (PSF) and chairman of the Board of Directors of Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). At BCDI, he was CEO of a bank that had been created after the war and as such, many initially believed that it did not suffer the problem of non-performing loans, something that gave the bank a comparative advantage over the other banks that were negatively impacted as a result of the war. Kalisa is said to have lived in the United States of America for several years where he worked as a banker. At one time he said that he had done banking all his life. According to reliable sources, he had an ambition of setting up his own bank while still in the US. An opportunity availed it aself in the aftermath of the liberation war in 1994. He returned to Rwanda in 1995 and together with others, set up BCDI. He was at one time quoted by the World Investment News (WINNE) saying; “when I was in the states, I wanted to start my own bank. And 1995 was the right time…to start my own business in my own country.” According to sources, he started his banking business in Rwanda with a view of expanding regionally. His bank also extended to the DR Congo and he also operated in Mozambique. He at one time revealed to WINNE that the starting point of his envisaged banking empire was Kigali because he wanted to come back home and do something for his country. The bank which he owned with some other eleven Rwandan shareholders started from zero in his own words and had hit Rwf 30 billion worthof assets within seven years. The bank also started with one million dollars in capital and moved to five million dollars in that period of less than seven years. The bank also constructed a new head office. Though he has now been sentenced to six years imprisonment for insider trading, he once said to a journalist that the shareholders at some point agreed to forego profits in order to have the bank head offices constructed. He was accused of advancing loans to himself, his wife, brother and sister totaling up to Rwf 800 million. He was also accused of inflating the cost of constructing the banks headquarters. Ends