Officials face prosecution over misuse of tax payers’ money

KIGALI - The government is to bring to book public entities and officials responsible for mismanaging public funds, Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga has announced. According to the 2006 Auditor General report which came out on Monday, a whopping Frw5.3b of state finances were unaccounted for during the fiscal year in several public offices. Presenting her report to a joint session of senators and deputies on Monday, Evelyn Kamagaju revealed that most of the money was lost through illegal tendering procedures. Furious MPs decried high levels of irregularities. We have received the report from Auditor General Evelyn Kamagaju. We are still analyzing it before action is taken, Ngoga said in a telephone interview last week. Ngoga said the report raised many queries and the Prosecutor General’s office would soon announce the fate of those who did not account for the public funds. Kamagaju told journalists shortly after meeting lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon that the Prosecutor General’s office and police would investigate implicated officials; those found culpable will be prosecuted. The report which gives an analytical picture of how state institutions spent taxpayers’ money revealed that the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Tourism, Investment Cooperation and Cooperatives (Minicom) does not maintain any fuel stocks records, and thus can not supervise public fuel management. The AG states that tenders worth Frw3.8b were not sanctioned by the National Tender Board, while other tenders worth Frw7.85b had no justifications for being awarded by Internal Tender Committees (ITCs). Another ugly case involves PAFOR, a forest conservation project in the ministry of agriculture, where Frw77m was embezzled by the accountant. Other institutions where money was embezzled include the Students Financing Agency for Rwanda (SFAR) where Frw96m was stolen and the University Hospital of Kigali (CHU/K). At SFAR the accountant who stole the money deposited Frw20m of it in the director general’s bank account. Last year, several public institution officials were summoned to the Prosecutor General’s office in connection with financial irregularities unearthed by Kamagaju’s office. Kamagaju says her office cannot ascertain whether money was put to good use because there were no supporting documents and financial statements to back up the expenditures. Lawmakers want implicated organs or individual officials prosecuted depending on the nature of how the embezzlement took place.Ends