Police arrest two security firm officials over bribery

CRIME - Police is holding two senior supervisors of a private security firm, Armor Group, over allegations of bribery and discrimination when recruiting workers. The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on October 13 identified the duo as Gilbert Kalisa and John Fisher Ndicunguye. The latter had been on the run since investigations begun August this year. “Yes, we arrested them on Monday, October 08 and investigations are still going on,” confirmed CID chief Costa Habyara on Thursday. He continued that the files of the two suspects had been forwarded to the Nyarugenge District prosecutor. The Sunday Times has in the past exclusively written about the allegations and Armor Group managing director, Regis Arnold, has repeatedly denied them. The firm reportedly employs over 150 Rwandans and is charged among other duties to protect U.S. properties in the country. Sources within Armor Group say the bribery and discrimination reports first came to light when a desperate young man, allegedly offered a bribe of Frw 30,000 to be employed as a guard by the company but did not get the job. The source identified the man at Armor Group who allegedly took the bribe as Anaclet Habyarimana, who was recently fired by the company. Habyarimana was supposedly beaten into a coma by the person who gave him the bribe recently. He was only saved by his guard colleagues but after he promised in writing that he would refund the Frw 30,000. According to the source, there has been a syndicate within the company chaired by Ndicunguye which was recruiting only those applicants who came up with a bribe. It is also claimed that Ndicunguye was doubling as Regis Arnold’s personal assistant though this could not be independently verified by press time. Some guards accuse the company of reportedly sacking its employees at short notice each time they raised the issue of their grievances. They claim that before anyone gets promotion, he has to bribe his way through, a claim repeatedly denied by the company. One guard, Patrick Mpunga, walked into The New Times office in Kimihurura recently complaining that he and other guards were only receiving half their salaries. The firm’s managers were reportedly angered by the story and later fired Mpunga for leaking information to the press about his predicament. Ends