The Auditor General of state finances has revealed that USD 408,486 (equivalent to Frw 363,303,364) paid by tourists is missing on the account of the Rwanda Development Bank (RDB).
This money was paid as permits for access to national parks between August 2018 and January 2019. The RDB CEO Clare Akamanzi with her team admitted to the AG Obadia Biraro that indeed the money had been stolen.
Currently, tourism receipts are handled through the IREMBO automatic payment system, closing any possibility of diverting any single dollar or Franc.
That was not the case during the time when the Auditor General says the money missing, was taken. At the time, RDB was using manual payments window or known aw offline.
RDB lost funds that would have been used to implement different operating and development activities, says AG in the extensive report submitted to Parliament on Friday last week.
According to RDB, in its explanation, the missing funds “may have been collected fraudulently by Rwanda Online Platform Ltd staff using RDB staff user name”.
Clare Akamanzi with her team told the AG that the stolen revenues were “collected in cash when the automatic payment system of IREMBO platform was not working”.
RDB says for those who stole the money, the case is in court of law. No names are available.
Source: The Chronicles
