Félix Nshimyumuremyi
The prosecution has requested a seven-year jail sentence for the former Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) Director-General Félix Nshimyumuremyi, who is charged with criminal offenses of soliciting and accepting bribes.
The suspect was arrested on February 25, 2022 alongside one co-accused Emile Alexis Mugisha on allegations of corruption.
The duo was arrested allegedly upon receiving over Rwf15 million out of Rwf203million of the total amount they requested as a bribe in a construction tender.
Specifically, Nshimyumuremyi is alleged to have solicited a bribe in order to render service under his mandate and the money was 3% of Rwf8billion total investment cost in the said service.
Nshimyumuremyi and his friend Mugisha appeared at the Intermediate Court of Nyarugenge this September 20, 2022, to answer the charges.
They allegedly solicited the bribe from an investment company called See-Far Housing Ltd, which has a project to build 556 low-income earners’ houses in Kabeza, Kanombe Sector in Kicukiro District.
The duo have been temporarily detained in Nyarugenge Prison and appeared before the Court, represented by five lawyers.
Mugisha appeared this time denying being the link person between the two sides (as a commission agent) to ensure the bribe was delivered and also defended his friend (Nshimyumuremyi) saying he never asked or accepted a bribe, instead one- Kalisa [Sarongo]-an employee of See-Far Housing as the one who paid him for the work he did as a ‘Consultant’.
The prosecution showed the court that Mugisha was the middleman who helped Nshimyumuremyi acquire the said bribe and also brought both sides together.
The prosecution recalled that Mugisha had earlier on pleaded to have worked with Nshimyumuremyi to collect similar bribes, a comment that created a reaction and cross interjection from the defense team.
The defense also stated that since Nshimyumuremyi didn’t take the said bribe, the prosecution would have a better case if they waited to catch him red-handed, thus requesting his release as a suspect.
The prosecution also asked the court to convict Nshimyumuremyi of corruption and sentence him to seven years in prison and a fine of five times the amount he had requested as a bribe.
For Mugisha, the prosecution sought a six-year sentence in prison and a fine of three times the amount he had to collect as a ‘bribe agent’.
The presiding judge resolved that the verdict in the case will be read on October 14, 2022.
