Gatwabuyege verdict set for next month

Gasabo Intermediary Court has set November, 19, as the date on which the verdict in the high profile trial involving former senior government officials, including the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Vincent Gatwabuyege, will be read. This was confirmed yesterday by Fabienne Kizza, the president of Gasabo Intermediary Court in a telephone interview with The New Times. The high profile graft case also involves the former Director General of CEPEX, George Katurebe. CEPEX is the Central Public Investment and External Finance Bureau, an institution under the Ministry of Finance that coordinates public investments. Katurebe, Gatwabuyege and their co-accused who include Faustin Gacinya, (former Director of Finance), Jean Ngarambe, John Bosco Habyarimana, and Eliab Ngarambe had appeared before the Gasabo based court to face corruption related charges. All the five former employees of MININFRA are accused of two counts of forgery and corruption while Katurebe is accused of a single count of corruption. Gatwabuyege was arrested in December last year for interfering with the tendering processes, to illegally award inflated tenders to his accomplices which led to the government making huge financial losses. He and Katurebe are jointly accused of complicity in illegally exonerating STRABAG, a German road-construction company, from paying a Rwf 453m fine imposed on it by the government over breach of contract. Gatwabuyege has since been replaced by Marie Claire Mukasine, who is also battling in courts of law over a contentious tender scam in the construction of the Eastern Provincial headquarters. Gatwabuyege is also a respondent in this case that mainly involves former leaders of the province, including the immediate former State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, who was a former Governor of the province. Ends

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Gatwabuyege verdict set for next month