The ruling was read on Tuesday 13th December 20222 before Kicukiro Primary Court.

The court explained that there are no compelling evidences pinning Kamanzi James, Ndayambaje Pierre, Kayirangwa Leoncie, Ndayisenga Fidèle, Nsengumuremyi, Jean Marie Vianney and Basabose Tharcisse on alleged crimes including flouting of public tender procedures and making decisions based on favouritism.

However, the court said that there are major reasons pinning Fidèle Rwema on involvement in illegal bidding procedures and remanded him for 30 days.

As the suspects were arraigned for hearing before Kicukiro Primary Court on Thursday, December 8, prosecutors said that in 2020, RBC’s procurement committee awarded Rwema’s company with a tender worth more than Rwf3 billion to procure for them biomedical equipment, despite knowing that he was an employee of the institution, having worked for it since 2013.

The prosecution said that James Kamanzi, the former Deputy Director General of RBC, went on and signed the tender, yet he knew that Rwema was working for RBC.

It was alleged that Kamanzi ‘knew this because he is the one who actually signed his appointment letter when RBC was hiring him’.

Kamanzi argued that signing his appointment letter doesn’t mean that he still remembered him because he signed many letters under similar circumstances.

The other five members of RBC’s procurement committee also presented the same argument that they did not know that Rwema worked for RBC.

After assessing the prosecution’s request to remand the suspects for 30 days, the court ordered their immediate release on grounds of lacking compelling reasons.