Prosecution is investigating three former senior employees of the Multi-Country AIDS Programme, (MAP) over alleged tendering irregularities.The anomalies were first raised by the Office of the Auditor General during its 2006 report. The trio, Viateur Musabyimana, Charles Gakwavu and Alfred Karumeyi were all members of the Internal Tender Committee, (ITC) for the World Bank-funded project.“We suspect there was a conflict of interest in awarding tenders because, according to documents obtained, they own or have shares in firms that won most of the tenders,” said Faustin Nkusi, the acting Gasabo District head prosecutor.The multi-million tenders were for the construction of health centers countrywide went to two companies; ESTRA and CONACO, in which Musabyimana and Gakwavu, own 80 percent and 50 percent, respectively.Another tender involved importation of 18 ambulances worth Frw338 million, which Nkusi, says were substandard.This particular tender was awarded to Sogerwa SARL, a local car importing company which during the bidding, which interesting was represented by Musabyimana during the bidding process. Musabyimana was the president of the internal tendering committee.The ambulances, Nkusi, said will need another Frw70 million to adjust them.“These ambulances cannot even accommodate a single patient,” he said.Karumeyi, who was the secretary of the committee, is implicated in the awarding of tender to import 200 microscopes worth about Frw300 million, a tender that was won by Intertrade F&C which is owned by his relative, Celestin Musabyimana.“However competent those firms could have, what they did is punishable because it is viewed as employees seeking benefits out of their attributions,” Nkusi said. He added that such acts are punishable under article 23 of the anti-corruption law.The three who have since lost their jobs were arrested and later released on bail.Nkusi said that even when the investigations found out that the constructed structures were up to the standards, what they did was contrary to the terms stipulated in their employment contracts.“The contracts are very clear; no employee is allowed to participate in any way in tenders and the fact that the three were part of the tender committee makes it worse,” the prosecutor said.On conviction, the charge carries an imprisonment of two to five years and/or a fine more than double the funds that were misappropriated. The Prosecutor General’s Office ordered for the investigations of the suspected tender irregularities in a report published last month.Ends
