Dr Paulin Murayi, the son-in-law of Rwandan genocide fugitive Felicien Kabuga has filed court case at ‘Cour d’assises de Bruxelles’ alleging that Dr Theogene Rudasingwa stole (“a vole”) 357,300 euros which was his personal contribution to the Rwanda National Congress (RNC).
In the case file (D-2014-89) filed on 19th May 2014, Dr Murayi alleges that between March 2012-July 2013, he made transfers of money to a bank account in Brussels to which Dr Rudasingwa used purportedly to perform party activities. Murayi claims that following a joing FDU-Inkingi meeting and RNC in Johannesburg 19-24.2.2013, a decision was reached to launch a shortwave radio.
Dr Murayi claims that he agreed to finance the establishment of the radio and pay for implementation of some RNC activities. Until February this year, Dr Murayi was the chair of RNC-Belgium chapter. Dr Murayi and his wife Winnie Kabuga manage some of the personal fortune of Felicien Kabuga as he has to keep underground due to an international manhunt on him for his role in the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda.
According to Murayi, it was agreed that all fundraising money for the radio will be put on a specific account which would be operated by the ‘RNC Coordinator’ in consultation with Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa, who was given special oversight because he led the founding of RNC. The decision was reached after some members at the Johannesburg meeting objected to only letting the ‘Coordinator’ access the account.
In the court dossier, Dr Murayi affirms that indeed Radio Impala was launched in October 2013. However, the radio was giving poor signals and there were no journalists to operate it, explains Murayi. According to the plan, the radio was to have 3 signal relay points covering different regions of the world, but it began relaying via only KHZ 17,540.
Dr Murayi explains that his legal team uncovered evidence around December showing how old and less amount of equipment had been procured. Murayi goes on to explain that he raised his concerns with Patrick Karegeya because is the one who had convinced him to join RNC. However, before he could get an answer, Karegeya was killed at a Johannesburg hotel a few weeks later.
Around early January, Murayi asked for accountability for money he contributed to the radio. “I got email from the party coordinator Dr Rudasingwa informing me that the audit report would be submitted to all Chapter heads within one week,” explains Murayi in the court dossier.
He added in the court file: “I waited for more than three weeks and there was no explanation as to why the report was delaying.”
It was at that point that Dr Murayi decided enough is enough. He abruptly resigned from RNC and formed his own political party Democratic Union of Rwandans (UDR). Dr Murayi left with other influential members of the RNC Belgium.
In the court case, Dr Murayi is demanding that court recover his money from Rudasingwa or RNC members in Belgium because Rudasingwa was acting on their behalf. The court summon was delivered to Jean Marie Micombero, who replaced Murayi as leader of the RNC Belgium chapter.
Murayi added up the total amount to 357,300 euros which he claims must be refunded because it was not spent on the exact items. Legally, Murayi said the money was stolen. However, the case may encounter some hurdles. When Murayi formed his own party, he left with all the written material pertaining to Radio Impala. The ownership of the radio has since been under UDR party.
It remains to be seen how Murayi hopes to win this case considering that Rudasingwa lives in Washington (USA) and is not a Belgium or European citizen. Perhaps what could be attained with this court case is that the moment Rudasingwa ever step on Belgian soil, the case applies, and could be arrested for not answering to the court’s summons. Likewise, since Belgium is an EU country, the moment Rudasingwa steps on European soil, he will be liable for arrest.
