Suspended Minister of State in the Ministry of Youth and Culture, Edouard Bamporiki, is set to appear before Nyarugenge Intermediate Court on September 16, The New Times has learnt. Bamporiki was suspended from the cabinet on May 5 and placed under house arrest following allegations of his involvement in corruption. Harrison Mutabazi, the Spokesperson of the Judiciary confirmed that, “The case hearing is set for September 16 at Nyarugenge Intermediate Court.” On August 30, Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) announced that they transferred Bamporiki's case file to prosecution on July 07. Prosecution also confirmed details of the case. “He is suspected for having committed the crime of soliciting and receiving illegal benefit (corruption),” Faustin Nkusi, the spokesperson of the prosecution told The New Times but refused to divulge more details about the case. RIB had preferred to charge Bamporiki with soliciting, accepting or offering illegal benefit, a crime provided for and punishable by article 04 of the law on fighting against corruption. The mentioned article provides that any person who solicits, accepts or receives, by any means, an illegal benefit for himself or another person or accepts a promise in order to render or omit a service under his mandate or uses his position to render or omit a service commits an offence. On the punitive measures, the law states that upon conviction, he is liable to imprisonment for a term of more than five years but not more than seven years with a fine of three to five times the value of the illegal benefit solicited received. Penalties mentioned, according to the law, “apply to a person who offers or promises to offer a benefit, by any means, an illegal benefit for him/ herself or another person to have a service rendered or omitted.” It adds in part that if acts “are committed in order to perform an act contrary to law, the penalty is imprisonment for a term of more than seven years and not more than ten years with a fine of three to five times the value in Rwandan francs of the illegal benefit received or offered.” The last part of the article makes reference to the first part of the article, implying that the punishment goes up for anyone in a public office from seven to ten years in jail sentence which is the highest. Following his suspension on May 5, Bamporiki went on Twitter and made an apology saying that he had indeed committed a crime of corruption and he pleaded with the president to forgive him.
