Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) has confirmed it has submitted to the National Public Prosecution Authority the case of Egide Igabe, who was arrested over forgery of academic documents. According to RIB’s spokesperson, Thierry B. Murangira, the file of Igabe, who was arrested on January 5, was Monday January 10 submitted to prosecution. “Igabe is arrested over suspicion of using a forged document to secure a job at various universities operating in Rwanda with a PhD degree he said he obtained from the Atlantic International University (AIU) in the United States,” he said. Murangira further explained that Igabe has confessed to having a forged equivalence document from the High Education Council (HEC). “He forged the equivalence with the names of the current HEC executive director but used the signature of her predecessor and this is the main reason he is being investigated to see if his degree is Authentic, he explained. An equivalence is a document that authenticates an academic qualification awarded from a foreign school. After AIU commented on Twitter confirming that Igabe completed his PhD studies at their university, Murangira clarified that the arrest of Igabe is based on reasonable grounds the rest is for the Court. “Whether he attended the university or not, he forged a document and tried to use it to obtain a job and that is what we are investigating him for,” Murangira said. Igabe is now detained at Kicukiro RIB station. According to article 276 of the law determining offenses and penalties in general, states that “any person who, in any manner, forges or alters documents by forged signature or fingerprint, falsifying documents or signatures or impersonation, forging agreements, its provisions, obligations, or discharged obligations commits an offense. Any person, who, with a fraudulent intention, produces a false written document, causes to write false statements, or produces a conflicting declaration, is considered to commit the offense of forgery. Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than five years but not more than seven years and a fine of not less than Frw3 million and not more than Frw5 million or only one of these penalties.” The penalty also applies to any person who knowingly makes use of a forgery document in any way.
