340 public servants dragged to court

A total of 342 civil servants have been dragged to court for causing massive financial losses to the government through fraud, illegal awarding of tenders and mismanagement of public assets, a report released by the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), indicates.The officials are part of 418 cases that are supposed to be investigated by NPPA, as indicated in the 2007 to 2010 Auditor General’s reports.Those facing the wrath of the law include financial controllers, heads of institutions and those in tender committees.Martin Ngoga, the Prosecutor General, said yesterday some of the officials taken to court are still in service, pending action by higher authorities.“We are going to forward the list of names to the Prime Minister, who will decide whether these officials will continue serving as their cases are still in court or be laid off,” Ngoga said. “These officials, who are in the third category, are beyond the level of being fined; we decided to take them to court because of the gravity of their cases and the amount of money involved,” he added.75 have also been convicted of stealing over Rwf383.6 million in tax payers’ money during the same period. Their sentences range between six months and eight years.Ngoga noted that his office focused more on recovering funds. Over Rwf134.4 million was recovered through fines levied on officials for failing to account for the missing funds, unpaid taxes or stolen money, during the same period.Over Rwf 79.4 million are tax arrears while Rwf 54.9 million are fines levied on officials.The mechanism of fining officials started with the current calendar year. Previously all officials would be taken to court.Anyone who wins a tender is supposed to pay 3 per cent in taxes; but if they don’t pay, those who awarded tenders are forced to pay it, plus a maximum penalty of Rwf500, 000 per head on each case.“These funds recovered include those paid by ministers, Permanent Secretaries and other officials at this level who didn’t have supporting documents on how they spent money given to them while on trips,” he said.The Prosecutor General also explained that most of the accountability issues are in the lower levels where most of the budget is spent, a reason why they are the most implicated in financial issues.“It is misleading to talk about senior government officials (ministers) in accountability issues, because they don’t manage resources. Cabinet ministers are not budget managers; they are not responsible for financial misconduct in their respective ministries. Only Permanent Secretaries are responsible. Every single PS has been here to record statements on the missing funds,” said Ngoga.He added that the amount of money involving the 342 officials is “very high” compared to that recovered.The AG’s reports for the period 2007 to 2009 show that Rwf 2.8 billion is yet to be accounted for.The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), early this year, tabled a report regarding the loss of Rwf 9.7 billion highlighted in the 2009/2010 Auditor General’s report.Among the causes of the massive losses, according to the PAC report, was lack of timely reporting on the status of public funds, mismanagement of public assets and hidden bank accounts.A total of 111 cases are also yet to be decided on while nine others implicating military officials were sent to the military tribunal.Transparency Rwanda, early this year, protested over the slow progress in recovering public funds as indicated in the AG reports.NPPA established an Economic Crimes Unit, headed by Jules Marius Ntete, NPPA Inspector General, to speed up the process of either recovering public funds or prosecute those involved, where necessary.Ntete said they are working to have all cases completed by the beginning of the next financial year.Meanwhile, about 179 other officials from 27 public institutions were also found to have caused losses to the government, and Ntete said they have written to their respective ministries to take action against them.