Prosecution is set to arraign Prince Shema before Kicukiro Primary court on Tuesday, January 31. He is facing charges related to fraud. Shema, whose pre-trial hearing is set for morning hours on Tuesday, is the owner of P&A Group, a company accused of defrauding Rwf70 million from 13 people. He allegedly promised his clients to sell or rent them cars. According to Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) spokesperson, Thierry Murangira, the 20-year-old told his unsuspecting victims that his company dealt in imports and rentals of cars as a way of convincing them to give him money. Shema’s case follows cases of several suspects behind Ponzi schemes- a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. For instance, Tom Transfers, a company that is being sued for four crimes including fraud, forgery, breach of trust, and bounced cheques, has closed offices with the owner allegedly escaping from the country. According to RIB, the number of victims who have submitted their complaints has now more than doubled. Also in custody are the brains behind Cavallon Ltd, a company that registered to do advertisement business but instead ventured into other businesses, as well as seven employees of Gold Planning Artificial Intelligence. According to law determining offenses and penalties, any person who, by deception, obtains another person’s property, whole or part of his or her finance by use of false names or qualifications, or who offers positive promises or who threatens future misfortunes, commits an offense. If convicted of fraud, Shema could get a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of Rwf5 million to Rwf7 million.
