COOP: RIB arrests Prof. Harelimana

By George Kalisa

Rwanda Investigative Bureau (RIB) has confirmed to the local media the arrest of the former Director General of Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA), Prof. Dr. Jean Bosco Harelimana, over charges related to misappropriation of public funds and irregularities in tender process.

Prof. Dr. Harelimana who was relieved of his duties early January this year is now kept at RIB offices at Remera, in the capital, Kigali.

“It is true, Prof. Harelimana has been arrested RIB this Friday,” said Dr Murangira.

RIB arrested the Professor following an investigation associated with the offences he could have committed during his tenure as Director General of the Agency.

If the Courts of Law found him guilty of tender irregularities, the Professor faces a prison sentence of between five and seven years or pay a fine of between two million and five million Rwandan francs.  

While misallocation of public resources/funds will be imprisoned between five and seven years or pay between three million and five million Rwandan francs.

Prof. Dr. Harelimana’s arrest comes a day after he shunned a summon/meeting convened by PAC to execute it mandate.

The Professor claimed he was sick, he could not attend the meeting between RCA and PAC officers as the latter were making a follow on accountability issues in the Agency.

RCA a public institution that was established in 2007 charged with promotion, registration and regulation of cooperatives, and under promotion, there’s capacity development of cooperatives. By then, there were about 200 cooperatives with at least 300,000 members, according to statistics at RCA.

Today, there are 10, 876 cooperatives with 5.3million from all socio-economic classes.

RCA is number one employer of the economy. Growth in membership has meant a correspond increase in share capital rated at Rwf53 billion today.