Kicukiro Primary Court, on Tuesday, granted bail to several officials of the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) who were arrested for flouting tender procedures by awarding a multi-billion tender to their fellow employee. Court however remanded Fidele Rwema, an investor and employee of RBC for fraudulently acquiring a procurement tender worth more than Rwf 3 billion from the institution. Along with 6 other RBC officials, Rwema is accused of playing part in the illegal procedure that got him awarded the tender in 2020, ignoring the public procurement law that prohibits employees of the procuring entity from bidding for tenders. His co-accused include James Kamanzi, the former Deputy Director General of RBC, Fidele Ndayisenga, Jean-Pierre Ndayambaje, and Leoncie Kayiranga - members of RBC’s RBC procurement committee, among others. They were all arrested late last month. On Thursday, December 8, the six officials were arraigned before Kicukiro Primary Court and charged with flouting of public tender procedures and making decisions based on favouritism, while Rwema was charged with illegally acquiring a public tender among other counts. During the hearing, the prosecutors said that in 2020, RBC’s procurement committee awarded Rwema’s company with a tender to procure biomedical equipment for the institution, despite knowing that he was their fellow employee who had worked for RBC since 2013. However, delivering the ruling on Tuesday, the judge issued a 30-day remand for Rwema, saying there is reasonable ground for suspecting him of the crimes. She, however, granted bail to the rest of the co-accused, so that further investigations and the trial-in-substance continue as they are out of custody.
