Senior govt officials pinned in multi-billion public tender

Senior government officials including the Permanent Secretary in the finance ministry, Caleb Rwamuganza, appeared before a judge at Gasabo Primary Court in Kibagabaga, where they were charged with conspiring to mismanage a multi-billion public tender. Rwamuganza is charged along with five other people with whom they had appeared in court for the second time, following their first appearance last week which was postponed after defence lawyers said they had not been able to go through the case. They include Godfrey Kabera, the Director-General in the Ministry of Finance, Eric Serubibi, the former Director-General of Rwanda Housing Authority and Christian Rwankunda, who was until recently the Deputy Director-General in Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB). The building that, according to prosecution, was bought by the government over Rwf2bn of its original value. / Craish Bahizi Rwankunda was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure when the alleged crime was committed, according to prosecutors. The other two in the case are Aloys Rusizana a businessman, and Bonaventure Munyabugingo a private property valuer. According to prosecution, the group conspired in causing loss to the taxpayer valued at over Rwf2 billion francs in a single transaction of purchasing a building from a local businessman. The building, which was not cited in court but The New Times has independently established as the office building located opposite Umubano Hotel in Kacyiru, was valued at Rwf7.5 billion, but was later purchased by government at an inflated cost of Rwf9.8 billion, according to prosecution. A prosecutor said that the purchase of the building was in 2018 entrusted in Rwankunda, in his capacity as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure and the building was meant to house different government offices. The said building was developed by Aloys Rusizana through his company, AP Limited. The prosecutor said that given the value of the tender, this transaction was supposed to have involved Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA), but it was never the case. There was no transparency in the entire deal and numerous public procurement laws were flouted, the prosecutor charged. According to prosecution, contrary to standard procedures, Rwankunda instituted a committee that negotiated the price with AP Limited, a process that would have been done by a chief budget manager and RPPA. The committee held a number of negotiation meetings with AP Limited in May 2018, the prosecutor said. Later, in a meeting chaired by Rwamuganza at the ministry of finance, the committee came to an agreement with AP Limited to buy the building at over Rwf9.8 billion, which was way above the actual value. A property valuer hired by Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) is said to have valued the building at about Rfw7.5 billion. “This shows that the group conspired in inflating the cost, and that is how this price (Rwf9.8bn) came to be confirmed,” the prosecutor said. The committee members later shared the purchase agreement with Rwankunda and Serubibi who both signed confirming the transaction. Prosecution accused Rwankunda, Serubibi and Rwamuganza of misuse of public funds and flouting of standard procedures on public tenders. Kabera who attended the committee meetings was charged with complicity in flouting tendering procedures, and complicity in misuse of public funds. Rusizana and Munyabugingo were also charged with complicity in misuse of public funds and complicity in flouting tendering procedures. Munyabugingo is said to have been hired to do a counter-valuation of the building, which he did but put the prices so high. Prosecution adds that he complete the exercise in a matter of hours which they said pointed to shoddy work done. Prosecution asked that all of them be remanded as investigations continue before the case continues in substance. In their defence, the six refuted the charges. Rwankunda said that he tried hard to negotiate for a lower price. “During bargaining, our original offer was Rwf6bn but the owners had come with a valuation document that put their house at about Rwf9.6 billion, yet they were even asking for more. We brought our offer to Rwf6.7 billion but it was evident that they did not want to go down,” he said. In his plea, Rwamuganza pointed out different reasons why the price of the house went high. Among these, was the fact that they took into account factors like interest rates that the owners owed banks. Serubibi’s lawyer argued against his client’s charges saying that there is nowhere that prosecution shows he got any kind of bribe from anyone as a motivation for his endorsement of the agreement. For Kabera and Rusizana, they questioned prosecution’s charges, saying it is not reasonable to accuse them of conspiracy in the alleged crime basing on mere fact that they attended meetings that negotiated prices for the building. Rusizana’s lawyers also said that it is their client’s right to ask for the price that he wants from his property. For Munyabugingo, he said the valuation he did for the building took short time because it was not meant to be an extensive valuation, but rather a comparison between the valuations that had been made before. All the accused, who are currently in custody, asked to be released on bail. The bail ruling will be made on June 23.

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Senior govt officials pinned in multi-billion public tender