A man who claimed that the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) had colluded with the Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority to rip him off of a house he claimed he rightfully acquired, has ended up behind bars for defying court orders.
During the recent citizen outreach by President Paul Kagame, the man, identified as Anatole Muhizi lodged a complaint claiming he was victimized by different government institutions and ended up losing his house.
It has since turned out that actually, he defied a court order to vacate the house after he lost several court cases.
Muhizi had told President Kagame during his visit in Nyamasheke that the national bank instructed the land centre to not allow him to transfer ownership of the house he had rightfully acquired.
The President tasked the Minister of Local Government Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi and Deputy Inspector General of Police Felix Namuhoranye to expeditiously handle Muhizi’s case.
The said house is located in Kamonyi District and the initial owner was Jean Leon Rutagengwa, a former employee of BNR who sold it to Muhizi.
"Preliminary investigation findings show that Muhizi was dishonest in his claim; he defied a court order to vacate the house that had been auctioned. The house in question was built on a mortgage facility acquired by Rutagengwa by the national bank worth Rwf 31 million,” Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) spokesperson Thierry Murangira told The New Times.
When Rutagengwa defaulted on the loan, the bank went to court and won the case, then the bank wrote to the land centre requesting for imposition of a caveat on the house.
It turns out Rutagengwa somehow sold the house to Muhizi. Muhizi had said that his matter is known to the Ombudsman.
When The New Times contacted Ombudsman, Madeleine Nirere, she indeed said that her office is privy to details of the case and noted that Muhizi had lost all the court cases he pursued.
Muhizi first went to the commercial court suing the National Bank, he lost the case, then he filed a case against Land Centre which he also lost. The house was auctioned.
Muhizi went on to file a case against the court bailiff who handled the auction and still he lost the case. "He filed many cases and lost all of them. The last one he lost was at the court of appeal,” Nirere said.
Meanwhile, as Muhizi was in court, Rutagengwa’s wife also surfaced and claimed that her husband had sold the house to Muhizi without her consent and she was demanding compensation of 50 per cent of the total house value. She however lost the case.
The New Times has also learnt that Rutagengwa had sold the already mortgaged house to two different people separately. He first sold the house to one Patrick Benerugaba and three months later he sold the same to Muhizi.
Sources say that the contested house had been exchanged several times among loan sharks and Muhizi acquired it in the same way after allegedly giving money to Rutagengwa which he failed to pay. Rutagengwa allegedly failed to pay back Muhizi who was eyeing an abnormal interest from Rutagengwa.
For failure to pay back his debts, Muhizi decided to take Rutagengwa’s house in an arrangement they said was a purchase.
Now, Muhizi refused to vacate the house that he is alleged to have fraudulently acquired yet it is not registered to him