He had not been cleared of the said debt nor the court case by May 2018 when Ngoma Intermediate Court sentenced two officials who allegedly squandered the money through ‘ghost loans’; the former Ndego Sacco manager, Simon Pierre Habyarimana and loan officer Jean Paul Nzabonimpa to eight years in prison and a fine of Rwf9,767,420. They were found guilty of mismanaging the SACCO’s funds, forgery, using counterfeited documents and conning people. Musabyimana was a victim of the duo’s trickery.
The two have appealed the verdict. But 10 Sacco members who claimed indemnities of Rwf60 million also appealed the decision of compensating each with Rwf222,000 which they say doesn’t even cover their expenses including Rwf500,000 for the lawyer and over Rwf300,000 transport costs per each for attending the hearings from January to May 2018.
Musabyimana says, “I got loan of Rwf1.5 million in “words” not in cash in 2014. It started with the loan officer calling me to their offices over weekend and encouraged me to take loan which I accepted but he said I had to wait for Monday to collect the money.”
“They kept dodging me for about a month but they later decided to end the matter, filled the loan form and recorded the loan in my booklet, after which the manager called me in his office. He told me he had arranged with BDF (Business Development Fund) to pay 50% of my loan, therefore I had to repay Rwf750,000 only; adding as so, I had to give him Rwf500,000,” he tells IGIHE.
Musabyima says he refused and told the manager he had to repay that Rwf500,000 and required him to sign an agreement for that but the manager refused and Musabyimana grabbed his booklet. The manager remained with the filled loan form. The loan of Rwf1.5 million immediately went straight to the pockets of the manager who was sharing the cash with the loan officer. Musabyimana says he never got a penny.
“I didn’t sign on the form and he didn’t stamp in my booklet for the loan release. He phoned me the next day for a talk but we reached no agreement. I reported to the board president whom the manager told I had taken the money. I tried to take him to court but I could not afford legal wyer’s fees. I went home and relaxed, waiting for Sacco to sue me,” he says.
It later emerged that Musabyimana was sharing the problem with many Sacco members. They reported the two officers to police that arrested them. This prompted the inspection by Central Bank (BNR) and Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA) in November 2017 which found the two men to have embezzled around Rwf8 million and giving out loans illegally. The case was filed to the court against the two.
Prior to their arrest, however, Ndego Sacco had filed a case to Nyarugenge Commercial Court against nine members including Musabyimana over not repaying the loans and court’s verdict is awaited since the closure of the hearings in March.
{{Over 50 victims cry foul}}
A male victim who preferred anonymity said the Sacco manager and loan officer tricked over 50 members with most of the victims handing cash to the officers from the victims’ homes, others finding loans recorded on their names yet they never asked for them nor did they receive any money and others whose deposits were withdrawn by the officers.
This victim repaid the balance of Rwf427,600 on the Rwf1 million loan he had received but the loan officer deposited Rwf100,000 only and pocketed Rwf327,600.
He said that 25 victims reported to police but only 10 afforded the court’s fees while over 25 more were deceived by the two men in jail for not reporting as they promised to defeat those who reported and come back home to repay those who remained loyal to them. He said, from the prison, the two men were phoning some victims very often during the court’s hearings and convinced them on not appearing in court.
Daniel Nkangura, a resident of Karambi Cell in Ndego Sector who was loaned Rwf100,000 in January 2013 and repaid it in one year, was surprised to hear in August 2017 that he received Rwf450,000 and was charged with Rwf1.86 million as delay penalties but he was recently cleared of this debt by the court verdict.
Nkangura says his male neighbour had a ghost debt of Rwf320,000 and was told to repay Rwf1,983,000 for allegedly delaying to repay for over four years. He added another man had repaid Rwf200,000 loan and recovered his mortgage from Sacco but found himself in court with a huge debt of Rwf9.46 million.
{{Efforts to restore trust}}
Ndego Sacco members who lost their funds into staff pockets have told IGIHE that the trust in this cooperative is at peril in the community and recommended for the overhaul of the staff in order to recover trust.
“That robbery by the staff decimated our trust in Sacco. We have tangible reasons. For instance, they are currently giving loans not exceeding Rwf100,000 yet they were formerly giving up to Rwf2 million,” said a member who preferred anonymity, adding that members who want to withdraw big amounts of money are currently being put on hold as the cooperative has run short of funds.
Musabyamana also said he and fellow members have lost trust in their Sacco, citing examples of milk suppliers to the sector’s milk collection centre and workers in Bramin project, a joint maize venture between Bralirwa and Minimex Corporate Company, who have recently refused to keep receiving payments through Sacco.
“We cannot have trust in our Sacco as long as the cashiers who worked with those men (jailed manager and loan officer) are still there. For example, there is still a cashier who once recorded Rwf20,000 for my neighbour who deposited Rwf200,000 and fooled him when he complained. We have now opted to save our money in our community saving groups,” said Musabyimana.
Ndego Sacco Manager, Alphonsine Uwamariya, says members should have trust in their cooperative since the criminals have faced justice, adding that the remaining staffs have nothing to do with the former managers’ acts.
“We are telling members that there isn’t any problem now. The inspection was conducted and nobody else was found guilty of any crime apart from those two men. It is true there are un-recovered loans as the case in court indicated. It happened that the loan officer did not deposit in Sacco the money he was receiving from loan receivers but no funds they picked from Sacco coffers; it is the cash from outside,” she said, admitting that they have lost some members especially the victims of the former managers’ acts.
Prof. Jean Bosco Harelimana, the Director General of RCA, told IGIHE recently that Umurenge Saccos have lost a total of Rwf1,731,188,647 mainly in embezzlement and mismanagement since the opening of one outlet in each of the 416 administrative sectors in 2009 but Rwf1 billion has so far been recovered while 100 cases about Sacco malpractices are pending in courts.
He said that in a bid to curb the malpractices, RCA has started the process of computerising Sacco’s operations and opening a cooperative bank to oversee the outlets’ operations around the country by 2020.
Harelimana assured Umurenge Sacco’s members of the security of their funds because all financial institutions are insured and cautioned those trying to embezzle the cooperative’s funds, saying that they will face justice.
With 535 outlets, Rwf66 billion savings and Rwf12 billion share capital currently, Umurenge Sacco employs 3,029 people countrywide.
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