SACCO accountant arrested over Rwf1.2 million

An accountant at Fumbe Saving and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) in Rwamagana District has been arrested in connection with embezzling over Rwf1.2million.

Immaculate Gasengayire was arrested and detained at Musha Police station on Monday following an audit at the SACCO branch.

Preliminary investigations indicate that a group of residents in Fumbwe attempted to acquire a loan of Rwf1.2 million from the SACCO branch under the Vision 2020 Umurenge Program (VUP), which prompted the micro-finance institution to send an inspection team to verify their projects.

Inspector of Police (IP) Emmanuel Kayigi, Police Spokesperson for the Eastern region, said that the inspection team found that the residents weren’t qualifying for the loan.

“However, Gasengayire went ahead and withdrew the money in the name of the residents after forging their signatures,” said IP Kayigi.

He expressed disappointment over Gasengayire’s alleged actions, which he said are against articles 325 and 609 of the Rwandan penal code.

Embezzlement, under article 325, attracts an imprisonment of up to ten years in prison and a fine of two to five times the value of the embezzled or destroyed property.

Article 609 states that “any person who forges or alters documents by forged signature or fingerprint, falsifying documents or signatures or impersonation, forging agreements, its provisions, obligations, discharged obligations shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of more than five years to seven years and a fine of Rwf300, 000 to Rwf3 million.”