Prosecutor General summons SFAR director

GASABO - The Director of Students Financing Agency for Rwanda (SFAR), Emmanuel Muvunyi, was last week summoned by the office of the Prosecutor General over a financial scam he was allegedly involved in with his accountant. Sources from the Prosecutor General’s office say that Muvunyi was summoned in a bid to push investigations on the alleged case of Frw90m which was reportedly unaccounted for during this year’s Auditor General’s report. In January this year, the Auditor General, Evelyn Kamagaju, presented the 2006 report to the joint Chambers of Parliament which indicated that Frw5.3 billion had not been accounted for. “Yes, he was summoned by the office of the Prosecutor General and we are trying to push for investigations and scrutinise how the alleged amount of money came to his account,” Deputy Prosecutor General Alphonse Hitiyaremye confirmed in a telephone interview yesterday. The Auditor General’s report exposed an extraordinary case where an accountant at SFAR stole money worth Frw96 million and deposited Frw20 million of it on Muvunyi’s account. Hitiyaremye said that investigations on the SFAR Director were underway and that they were going to proceed to the banks (COGEBANQUE and BCR) where the case was first discovered. “We are going to investigate theses banks and get all the details of how that money was transferred to Muvunyi’s account,” he said, adding that results will be announced after completion of investigations. No comment could be got from Muvunyi by the time this story run as he was not picking his phone. The summoning of the SFR Director comes months after the Director of Administration and Finance (DAF) at the Forest Conservation Project (PAFOR) in Rulindo District was also summoned to court over a financial scam. The DAF, Augustin Habimana who was also doubling as chairman of the tender committee in PAFOR, was arrested together with Gerald Nikuze in charge of environment protection, and Céléstin Kabera, a store keeper. PAFOR operates under the Ministry of Agriculture and is based in Rulindo district in the Northern Province. About Frw77 million was reportedly embezzled by PAFOR’s accountant. After the Auditor General’s Report was presented to the joint Chambers of Parliament, Parliament set up a commission of inquiry to probe allegations of gross mismanagement of public funds. Ends

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Prosecutor General summons SFAR director