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Kinyarwanda
Police and investigators in Kirehe District arrested one Jean Claude Bikorimana, 38, on Sunday, in connection with attempting to bribe a police officer to facilitate the release of two people.
Bikorimana was arrested in Mahama Sector where he allegedly tried to seduce a law enforcement officer with Rwf200, 000, so as to free his colleagues.
The two people that Bikorimana was attempting to secure their release; Ignace Tuyishime and Joel Hakizimana detained at Mahama Police station, were arrested on May 5, over smuggling related offences.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Hamdun Twizeyimana, the Police spokesperson for the Eastern region, said that Bikorimana tried to give a bribe to Mahama Police station commander, where his friends are detained.
“When Hakorimana got to know that his colleagues were detained at Mahama Police station, he started to call the officer in-charge for negotiations and offered him Rwf200, 000 to release them unconditionally. He was arrested red-handed by the Police and investigators,” CIP Twizeyimana said.
“If someone is apprehended over a certain crime, relatives or friends should think of the legal way to prove his innocence before the courts of law, because contrary to that, you will find yourself facing the law as well,” CIP Twizeyimana warned.
The spokesperson added: “Corruption or bribery has no place in Rwanda; so it's high time people understood that attempting to give illicit benefits is no wisdom, but a crime you will be arrested for.”
Article 2 of law N° 54/2018 of 13/08/2018 on fighting against corruption, defines illicit benefit as “any benefit solicited, offered, accepted or promised illegally in order to render or omit a service.”
In article 4, any person, who offers or promises to offer a benefit, by any means, an illegal benefit for him or herself or another person to have a service rendered or omitted, commits an offense.
Upon conviction, the offender is liable to imprisonment for a term of more than five years but not more than seven years with a fine of three to five times the value of the illegal benefit offered.
