Rwanda National Police (RNP) has warned the public to refrain from exchange of currencies with unauthorized individuals.

The call follows the arrest of three illegal money changers in Bugarama Sector, Rusizi District on Thursday.

According to the police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Celestin Twahirwa, cases of illegal money changers are very minimal but they still can’t go unpunished.

Police and the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) have a partnership of overcoming illegal money exchangers. The partnership is geared towards protecting the economy against any adverse effects that may arise from the exchange trade mainly done by the black markets operators.

The suspects arrested in Rusizi were identified as Theobald Nsengiyumva, Vincent Nshutikuneza and Jean Sango and are currently held at Bugarama Police station.

"Legal and regulatory frameworks have been put in place to regulate the foreign exchange market. These regulatory frameworks include the penal code, the central bank law and the regulation governing foreign exchange bureaus….These are clear legal instruments that must be abided with. People who have interest in this business should organize themselves and acquire a license from the National Bank of Rwanda and the Rwanda Forex Bureau Association (RFBA) rather than operating on a black market which is criminal,” said ACP Twahirwa.

Currently, there are 88 licensed forex bureaus, with about 55 percent of them operating in the City of Kigali.

ACP Twahirwa went on to say that the 2013 regulations governing foreign exchange bureaus stipulates in article 3 that no person shall carry out or purport to carry out a foreign exchange bureau in Rwanda unless he or she is licensed by the Central Bank in accordance with this regulation.

In reference to the three arrested men, ACP Twahirwa said; "such black market operators are not registered and not in formal business; they don’t pay taxes, rent and other required fees; this is why everyone has to stand up against them.” 

The Police Spokesperson said that, "it leads to tax evasion and can create statistical data mismatches since all black market transactions are not captured.”

Both Police and BNR conduct periodic awareness campaigns to educate the business community about setting up legitimate and legally recognised forex bureaus instead of conducting "black market” forex activities that cause inflation and other economic challenges.

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