Two judges and three local authority employees are in police custody over allegations of graft in Mugomba District, Southern Province.
The accused include the executive secretary of Mambo sector David Ntiyamira, Aphrodice Ndungutse of Ndora Sector and an agronomist, who had all been arrested on environmental degradation charges. The presiding judge Eliya Nsengimana alongside the court clerk Jean Leonard allegedly told the accused to part with a Rwf 550,000 bribe and a cow to be set free.
In an interview with IGIHE.com, Police Spokesman Theos Badege disclosed that the agronomist parted with a total of Rwf 250,000 while Murindabigwi paid Rwf100,000 through the MTN mobile money service in Kigali and was to clear the balance on his return to the province.
On his part, Ntiyamira offered a cow to the presiding judge.
The trial is now set to be heard by another other judges. “If this evidence can be proven in the court of law, then those found guilty are liable to a prison sentence of a minimum 15 years,” Badege said.
“These are the very people we put in place to prevent and ensure that corruption doesn’t happen. Instead, they are the ones accepting bribery. We wish to notify the general public that these institutions are put in place to offer free services,” Badege advised.
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