Mutsindashyaka ruling set for next week

The ruling in the trial of former minister Theoneste Mutsindashyaka for allegedly concealing foreign bank accounts from the Ombudsman, is set for next week in Nyarugenge Intermediate Court. The accounts are said to be in Canada and the United States. The prosecution maintains that Mutsindashyaka, a former State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education as well as Mayor of Kigali City, concealed his accounts deliberately. He is also accused of mismanaging public funds while still the Mayor in 2004. The prosecution adds that the Ombudsman’s findings indicate that Mutsindashyaka also owns four trailer trucks which he never declared and could not satisfactorily explain the source of the money he used to purchase them. It adds that Mutsindashyaka bought the trucks but registered them under his brother’s names, Jean de Dieu Mbarushimana. He bought the trucks from Egide Gatera, a local businessman. During investigations, Gatera reportedly admitted he had negotiated the deal with Mutsindashyaka. He is charged together with former employees of Kigali City Council; Joseph Bahenda and Umugeni Mukabalisa. Bahenda, the former Director of Finance, is accused of illegally approving payment of over Rwf1billion to GEOMAP, a Kenyan consultancy firm that was contracted by the City Council yet the company did not carry out any work for the City. Mutsindashyaka is also accused of illegally selling government to Kigali City Park (KCP). KCP was a joint company owned by local businessman Eugene Nyagahene and Kigali City Council. It was set up in 2003 to build an amusement park in the upscale Nyarutarama suburb before the deal collapsed. Under the arrangement, the city council became the majority shareholder in the company when it provided 79 hectares of land for the park. The land represented 58 percent of the shares of the company. Prosecution says though the land belongs to government, documents signed by Mutsindashyaka indicated that land had been sold to KCP. Mutsindashyaka is currently in jail serving a one year jail term handed to him by Kacyiru Court last year for awarding EMA, a Construction Company over Rwf 17billion contract to build Eastern Province headquarters without following normal tendering procedures. Judge Innocent Gahima is handling the case. Ends

National

Mutsindashyaka ruling set for next week