KIREHE - Seven district officials are being held at Kirehe Police Station for allegedly burning tax receipt books.

The Director of Finance Alfred Habimana, a tax collector and a logistician were arrested at the weekend- days after the District Advisory Council fired them.

About 160 receipt books of the years 2006 and 2007 were discovered to be missing by auditors. Revenue officials, say a receipt book in a district like Kirehe may be valued between Rwf200.000 and 400.000.

The Mayor, Protais Murayire, said the suspects claimed that the receipts were burnt in the process of shifting the district administration to a new building.

"The claim is amazing. They say they burnt the receipts together with other useless papers, but revenue receipts are not useless. It actually raises a lot of scepticism,” the Mayor said.

He added that some of the receipts were retrieved from the suspects, while 30 are still missing. Authorities at the district say the case is still under police investigation.

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