Corruption probe nets two more suspects

Prosecution is holding two men for complicity in the embezzlement of Rwf 1.7b, an amount that was allegedly released by the now incarcerated former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Vincent Gatwabuyenge. The officials who were arrested include a Burundian national Jean Baptiste Habyarimana and his Rwandan counterpart, Jean Ngarambe. National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) spokesperson, Augustin Nkusi, yesterday said that the two were working with Studi-International - a company that had been hired by the government to supervise the construction of the Kigali-Bugesera road. “Both Ngarambe and Habyarimana made contradicting reports on the construction sites. The first report indicated that the site-centres were not constructed. Later the same individuals produced another report indicating that STRABAG had constructed the centres,” said Nkusi. The centres included residential houses for STRABAG staff, stores and control buildings that were supposed to have been built in Kigali and Nyamata. After receiving the two contradicting reports, Gatwabuyenge signed and authorised the release of the money to the company yet the latter had not built the centres. The Kigali-Bugesera road had earlier claimed more government officials, the most recent being the Director General of the Central Public Investment and External Finance Bureau (CEPEX), George Katurebe. He was arrested in connection with exonerating STRABAG from paying a fine totalling Rwf 453 million imposed by government as a penalty for delaying the construction of the road. Ends