Ex-WASAC boss, EDCL Managing Director remanded

The Nyarugunga Primary Court in Kicukiro District on Friday remanded the former chief executive officer of the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC), James Sano and the Managing Director of the Energy Development Corporation Ltd (EDCL) Emmanuel Kamanzi for 30 days. The same court also remanded for the same period Niyibizi Mbanzabigwi, the coordinator of an energy project in EDCL and a co-accused to Kamanzi. The three were arrested by Police earlier this month to pave way for investigations in different illegalities in awarding public tenders and mismanagement of public resources. They had all applied for bail during their arraignment on Thursday. Reading the verdict, the presiding judge turned down their plea for bail owing to the seriousness of the crimes they stand accused. He added that owing to the evidence so far adduced by prosecution, there was prima facie case for them to answer and that there was likelihood of them impeding further investigations if released on bail. The judge further ruled that even the bond presented by some of the suspects did not meet the legally required threshold. According to the law, the money presented by the accused as cash bond must be twice the amount of money the suspect is accused of misusing or swindling. The defendants, who had denied all charges against them on Thursday and were not in court Friday during the ruling, were given five days to appeal the court’s decision. The charges Prosecution had on Thursday pointed out that Sano allegedly misused public funds that resulted into many Rwandans not getting access to clean water. They further pinned him on unnecessary spending on rent for the current headquarters of the utility near Gishushu along the Airport Road, saying that they never would have left the previous premises which they owned. The new premises is rented at Rwf26 million every month. When they occupied the new offices late last year, WASAC paid Rwf945.5m for a three-year rental, according to prosecution. In defence, Sano, who was replaced as the water utility boss early this month, insisted that all decisions were made by the company’s board of directors adding that he never took any decision as an individual. He also justified the move to the new premises saying that the old premises in downtown Kigali were smaller and could not accommodate all staff. Meanwhile, Kamanzi, who is also accused of misusing public funds, was pinned on authorising the purchase of electric poles and transformers, which turned out to be defective. According to prosecution, Kamanzi, on August 19, 2015, signed an MoU with a company that was meant to supply 1,000 electric poles of which 400 turned out to be defective. Despite this breach of contract however, prosecutors accuse Kamanzi of authorizing payment of up to 90 per cent of the total cost to the contractor. In mitigation, Kamanzi said that the MoU is still valid because the company hasn’t yet been paid the remaining 10 per cent as stated in the agreement. Prosecution further added that on July 9 July 2015 Kamanzi had signed another MoU with ABB Ltd to provide the company with 10 transformers which turned out to be incompatible to the Rwanda electrical network. They add that the accused instead taking action against the supplier, decided to order for an additional 75 transformers of the same type. Mbanzabigwi is a co-accused on these charges. Kamanzi was also separately accused of unauthorized use of the company’s vehicle in the first days of his appointment at the beginning of 2015. Kamanzi denied the charges arguing that both the Ministry of Infrastructure and the one of Economic Planning were aware of the purchases made and were appraised on every step of the transaction. He however admitted utilizing the company vehicle in his own interests, a mistake he had previously acknowledged and for which he sought forgiveness in a letter to the Minister of Infrastructure.

News

Ex-WASAC boss, EDCL Managing Director remanded