The stunning lack of sophistication of the following uncovered scheme makes you wonder what's
going on in the ministries and other government agencies.
When the news of John Nkongoli's (a former representative of RPF in Canada), arrest reached
rwandans abroad, the speculations were that he was a victim of his ties with special envoy Patrick
Mazimpaka who is said to have encouraged him to return home or that he failed to keep his mouth
shut about air traffic towards Congo. Actually, the following month Rwanda was to host two VIPs:
Clare Short of the United Kingdom and James Wolfenson of the World Bank... it's possible that it was
just a coincidence and that the fight against corruption is an unrelenting process.
RR
Letter of the Auditor general requesting the police to arrest the head of a governement corporation
he was auditing
Kigali June 18, 2002
Hon. Minister of Justice and Institutional Relations
Kigali
Hon. Minister
I'm hereby writing to you to forward the charges against Mr. Nkongori John, manager Rwandan
Airport Authority and Mr. Nkusi Georges, general manager of the private business "great lakes
technologies".
Hon. Minister, briefly after starting to audit the Rwanda Airport Authority (Régie des Aéroport du
Rwanda-RAR), I was able to identify indications of mismanagement and even of embezzlement of
public assets. Although the probe is still going on, I would like to provide you with some instances
in order to request the judicial organs to call upon Mr. Nkongori John and his younger brother Nkusi
Georges, to return the country's assets they diverted together.
Charges against Mr Nkongoli John alone.
The audit showed that Mr. Nkongoli John used his position in the management of Rwanda Airport
Authority, to award contracts to himself or to his brother Mr. Nkusi Georges, without allowing
competitive bids or letting others in the authority know about it.
This was done in the following manner :
A. The tenders are reviewed Mr. Nkusi Georges on behalf of `Great lakes technologies' for which he's
the general manager, then he transmit the list of what needs to be purchased to his elder brother and
sometimes formal agreements are signed between them sometimes not.
B. The manager of the Authority requests the responsible departement to pay an advance to his
younger brother to enable him to purchase what they both agreed upon.
C. Some instances in which large amounts in cash were involved,indicate that many payments (in
dollars) were processed for a long time but until today nothing was delivered in exchange.
D. Mr Nkongoli John awards himself supplier's contracts. He does it when he supplies the Authority
with goods he purchases on his own. Other tenders are processed through his privates companies
Kigali Machine Works and Industrial Machinery Tool Consultant.
Kigali Machine Works, as evidenced by his personal information data - is owned by the manager of
the Airport Authority. In his information entered in his work file, he states that he founded the
company.
Industrial Machinery Tool Consultant replaced Kigali Machine Works for reasons still unknown.
This is evidenced by the fact that some of the services rendered by Kigali Machine Works were
transfered to Industrial Machinery Tool Consultant,and the Airport Authority payed the second half
of an amount that was due.
Another evidence is in the stamps of all the companies : The phone number 71271 and mail box
number BP 1953 Kigali is the same.
Invoices from all those companies have a similar design and it shows clearly that its actually one and
the same entity with three different names.
E. Normally when Mr Nkusi Georges needs money, he brings in an invoice to the Authority, claiming
its for the settlement of computer repairs and the payment is immediate.
Charges against Mr Nkusi Georges alone :51,887, 123 Rwf (1 USD: 473 Rwf)
Mr Nkusi Georges on the behalf of Great Lakes
Technologies has been granted various contracts for a long period and took payments for them but
never actually delivering the service for which he was paid. The contracts are as follows:
1. informatisation du système de sécurité (in French):13,512,500Frw
2. installation du réseau local informatique (in Fr.) :38,374,623 Frw
As mentioned previously Nkusi Georges was allocated the contracts on the behalf of Great Lakes
Technologies, the related payments were processed long ago but as Im writing the services has not
been rendered. The funds amount to 51,887,123 Frw and must be returned to the state coffers
Recommendation
Considering the fact that we couldnt be provided with explanations on the mismanagement,
misappropriation of public assets, Im requesting to the relevant authorities to arrest temporarily MM.
Nkongoli John and Nkusi Georges in order for them to explain their misuse of government property to
the judiciary.
Ntaganda Gervais Auditor General
CC:
- Chief Justice, Supreme Court
- Public Prosecutor, Court of Appeal
Kigali
(Unofficial translation from Kinyarwanda on July 4th. The requested arrests were promptly processed
on June 20th, the suspects were to be released very briefly a week later only to be returned to their
cells after being shown an arrest warrant in good order at the gates of the jail house! )
