Prosecution on Thursday implored the Primary Court of Nyarugenge in Kigali city to remand the former Minister of Sports and Culture, Robert Bayigamba who is facing property-related fraud charges on 30 days preventive detention.
This was during the prosecution’s final submissions in the trial in which the former senior government official is on trial accused of stealing other people’s assets after changing their ownership.
Prosecution has during his arraignment requested for the suspect to be remanded because their investigations were still ongoing.
Bayigamba, who also served as the Chairperson of Private Sector Federation, is being investigated for allegedly using fraudulent means to sell property for which he had no custody.
It is alleged that the ex-minister took an advance payment on the sale from one of the buyers, and went ahead to sell the land to another party and efforts for the first buyer to recover his money were futile.
It is also said that the original title deeds for the same pieces of land had been deposited with two creditors to whom Bayigamba owed money.
Until recently, Bayigamba has been assuming the strategic position as Executive Secretary of the former Privatization Secretariat under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning where he coordinated the privatization of 20 state-owned companies.
The soft spoken businessman was the Executive Chairman of Manumetal Ltd, one of the leading producer of commercial furniture in Rwanda before being appointed as Chairman of the Rwanda Association of Manufacturers, and a consultant creating B2B strategic partnerships in Africa.
CU/as/APA