The High Court has reduced, by more than half, the jail term of Robert Nyamvumba, a former top official with the Ministry of Infrastructure who was implicated in a multi-billion Franc corruption case in 2020. In September 2020, the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court sentenced Nyamvumba to six years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine worth Rwf 21.6 billion, having found him guilty of attempting to solicit a bribe worth Rwf 7.2 billion from Javier Elizalde, a Spanish investor who had won a tender to set up street lights in Rwanda. According to prosecution, he committed the crimes in early 2020 when he was working as the Division Manager in charge of energy at the Ministry. After the verdict was issued, Nyamvumba appealed to the High Court, as he changed his plea to guilty, as opposed to the earlier approach of denying the charges. In a hearing held last month, he confessed before the judge that he acted as a link between Elizalde and a local businessman who would purportedly speed up the remaining processes of the tender, on condition that the Spaniard gives him a 10 percent commission of the total worth of the tender which was Rwf 72 billion. Here, he said he regrets his involvement in such a scheme, as he asked for forgiveness from President Paul Kagame as well as the whole Rwandan community. In addition, he noted that it is impossible for him to get Rwf21.6 billion to pay the fines slapped on him by the Intermediate Court, saying he does not have the means. Issuing the verdict this week, the High Court judges reduced his jail term to 30 months (2 and a half years), and his fine to Rwf. 50 million. This means that he will be out of jail around September this year.
