The former Rwandan state minister in charge of Culture, Edouard Bamporiki, will stand trial on September 16, over corruption charges, a judicial source confirmed Wednesday in Kigali.
Bamporiki was suspended from the cabinet on May 5 and placed under house arrest following allegations of his involvement in corruption.
“The case hearing is set for September 16 at Nyarugenge Intermediate Court,” Harrison Mutabazi, the Spokesperson of the Judiciary said.
Prosecution also confirmed details of the case.
“He is suspected for having committed the crime of soliciting and receiving illegal benefit (corruption),” Faustin Nkusi, the spokesperson of the prosecution told local media early Tuesday.
The Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) had preferred to charge Bamporiki with soliciting, accepting or offering illegal benefit, a crime provided for and punishable by article 04 of the law on fighting against corruption.
The mentioned article provides that any person who solicits, accepts or receives, by any means, an illegal benefit for himself or another person or accepts a promise in order to render or omit a service under his mandate or uses his position to render or omit a service commits an offence.
On the punitive measures, the law states that upon conviction, he is liable to imprisonment for a term of more than five years but not more than seven years with a fine of three to five times the value of the illegal benefit solicited received.
Penalties mentioned, according to the law, “apply to a person who offers or promises to offer a benefit, by any means, an illegal benefit for him/ herself or another person to have a service rendered or omitted.”
Apart from his political career, Bamporiki is a filmmaker.
“Long Coat” is one of his most famous films – through a story of a survivor of the 1994 genocide and one of a perpetrator’s son, the film focuses on leaving one’s past behind.
CU/as/APA