Education Ministry defrauded of about US $500,000

The Rwandan Ministry of Education has taken a New York-based consulting firm, Network International (ICN), to court for defrauding it of about US $500,000 in a computer-purchasing deal that went sour, according to the Rwanda News Agency (RNA). “We have been negotiating with ICN to recover the money since March of last year but all in vain,” RNA quoted the ministry’s director of administration and finance, Charles Gahima, as saying. “The Education Ministry has taken the case to court and the proceedings will start on March 1, 1999 at the Kigali Court of First Instance.” According to Gahima, the money was paid to ICN, but the computers supplied were rejected because they were no good. The Ministry is now demanding a refund. The Ministry is also trying to recover money which, it says, was embezzled from a project to rebuild schools in the country and reportedly borrowed from the World Bank. The ministry has taken the project’s director and 11 foreign contracting companies who stole about US $2.7 million to court to get the money back, according to RNA.