Two employees of the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) and a local entrepreneur are in the hands of the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), facing charges related to the embezzlement of 48 million Rwandan francs. Preliminary investigations have revealed the modus operandi behind the alleged crimes.
The suspects include Olivier Uwawe, an IT officer at the Ministry of Health, and Jean Pierre Bicamumpaka, a finance officer at RBC. Both were part of the committee responsible for approving and receiving goods purchased by RBC. They are also being investigated alongside entrepreneur Emmanuel Mugisha, owner of Paramount Company, a business that deals in IT equipment. Its overall reputation and business history have been largely undocumented.
RIB spokesperson Dr. Murangira B. Thierry confirmed the arrests, stating that the suspects were taken into custody last week, on October 6. They face charges including fraud, receiving and giving bribes, and forging or using falsified documents.
Dr. Murangira explained that preliminary investigations revealed that the government employees colluded with the entrepreneur, who had won the contract to supply IT equipment, to siphon off funds.
The investigation showed that the suspects fabricated serial numbers for 71 modems and 25 CPUs. It remains unclear whether this represented the full order, part of a larger scheme, or a repeated pattern of fraud, but all items were falsely reported as received. The entrepreneur then charged 48.4 million Frw, far above the actual cost of the equipment.
Additionally, the inquiry revealed that the entrepreneur paid bribes to the employees, who were part of the committee responsible for approving and receiving RBC purchases.
