Graft probe: Top official in PM’s office latest victim

KIGALI - The Director General in the Prime Minister’s Office, Vincent Rubayiza, has been arrested over an embezzlement case involving Rwf 39million, the Office of the Prosecutor announced yesterday.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Prosecution Spokesperson Augustin Nkusi.

KIGALI - The Director General in the Prime Minister’s Office, Vincent Rubayiza, has been arrested over an embezzlement case involving Rwf 39million, the Office of the Prosecutor announced yesterday.

The Prosecution spokesperson, Augustin Nkusi, said that Rubayiza’s arrest came after he failed to account for money which was meant for the purchase of fuel.

The case was one of those raised in the Auditor General (AG)’s 2006 report.

"He was not able to explain to the Auditor General’s Office how the fuel meant for vehicles at the PM’s office was used,” Nkusi said.

In what the prosecution called inappropriate work for him, the official is said to have taken up the job of distributing fuel instead of leaving it to the logistics officers.

The prosecution is now working under a deadline of seven days to have filed a lawsuit against him in which he faces over two years of imprisonment on conviction.

"We are preparing his dossier so that he can be produced before court,” the Prosecution spokesman explained.

Many government officials have of recent been arrested over embezzlement of funds in what Government has decided to be a continued fight against corruption.

Following the annual Auditor General’s reports, the prosecution has been able to pin several top government officials on corruption.

Meanwhile, different parallel investigations are ongoing in several alleged cases of embezzlement, including the theft of construction materials that were meant to build houses for the needy last year, as well as irregularities in the genocide survivors’ fund (FARG).

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