Rusesabagina to be charged -Ngoga

KIGALI - Rwanda will move to file charges against Paul Rusesabagina in the case involving Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire, currently in detention, whether he reports in the country or not. This was revealed Tuesday by the Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga,. He said that prosecution will request the court to combine the case involving four detained FDLR commanders and Ingabire with that of Rusesabagina who is accused of financing a terrorist organisation. Ingabire was denied bail by the Gasabo Intermediate Court on Tuesday on charges related to forming a terrorist organisation and threatening state security. She is accused together with Lt. Col Noel Habiyambere, Lt. Col Tharcisse Nditurende, Capt Jean Marie Vianney Karuta and Lt. Col Vital Uwumuremyi. Ngoga has said that the Rwandan Government has already issued the US Government with a request to provide evidence that will be used to prosecute Rusesabagina, who currently lives in the US. “We are not talking in general terms; we are mentioning the names, the transactions which were done from San Antonio, Texas, where the money was sent from. It was received in Dar es Salaam and Bujumbura and sent by Paul Rusesabagina himself,” Ngoga challenged him to come out and say he never did so and also challenged the US to come out and say, it investigated and found that it was not true. “We have evidence and we hope America will cooperate in investigating him. But with or without that cooperation, Rusesabagina is part of the case”. Rusesabagina, through Western Union money transfer, is alleged to have sent funds to two men, then top commanders of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) with an aim of recruiting new fighters for a new terrorist organization known as Coalition of Democratic forces (CDF) which would then be a military wing of the FDU-Inkingi. “We have records of these transactions taking place but they are not the only ones maybe. We don’t know how many times he sent money or how many people he sent too, but what we have constitutes enough evidence that these people were involved in this criminal project. The amount involved in that context becomes irrelevant,” Ngoga says “We have asked the US Government to get us evidence because you know that even in the US; financing terrorism is a serious criminal offence. If America wanted, they could even prosecute him because what he is doing is in breach of the American law,” “As someone resident in America, he should not be involved in any transactions with terrorist groups,” “We provided the US Government with evidence to show what had been going on between Paul Rusesabagina and the FDLR. I travelled to Washington DC personally and met people from the justice department, anti-terrorism unit, people involved in a unit that is involved in tracking people in illegal and criminal financial transactions,” “I even met some senior officials in the White House and we had hoped that those contacts would have moved the process. Unfortunately it did not move as speedy as we wanted,” Ngoga said he contacted people from the war crimes office and it is only last week that he got feedback that they were going to work on it. “It is a very simple thing, he sent the money from San Antonio and it would be easy for the US law enforcement officers to find out whether it happened or not,” Ngoga added. Ends

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Rusesabagina to be charged -Ngoga