Rutsiro mayor named in embezzlement scandal

RUTSIRO - The mayor of Rutsiro district, Jean Ndimubahire, has been named in the case in which Jean Pierre Nsabimana, the former Executive Secretary of The National Youth Council at the district is accused of embezzling public funds. Last week, Nsabimana told prosecution that he embezzled over Rwf3.5million meant for youth empowerment programmes in the district and identified Ndimubahire as an accomplice. According to prosecution, preliminary investigations indicate that Nsabimana was directly involved in the embezzlement of funds provided by the Public Health Program, a Swiss project which operates in both Rutsiro and Karongi districts. “That is why we have tentatively remanded him (Nsabimana) for a minimum period of 30 days as investigations are finalized,” Charles Kaliwabo, the High Court spokesperson told The New Times. In Rwanda, it is a common practice to punished petty thieves and Kaliwabo revealed that the justice sector was determined to deal with the ‘big fish’. Nsabimana confessed to having used forged receipts to justify non-existent expenditures and alleges that it was under the mayor’s influence, an accusation that Ndimubahire vehemently denies. Ndimubahire said that the accusation came up because his term of office is coming to an end and his opponents are not happy, they want to tarnish his name but he has vowed to prove his innocence. “Nsabimana is being used and influenced by people who only want to create a bad impression of me amongst the public so that I don’t get a chance of leading the district to further development in the next term of office,” he said by phone, yesterday. When contacted, police spokesperson, Superintendent Theos Badege, Rwanda’s police spokesman said that investigations are still going on and if the Mayor has a case to answer, he will also be arrested and questioned. Efforts to reach prosecution spokesperson Alain Mukurarinda were futile as his cell phone was switched off by press time. Ends