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Kinyarwanda
Police in Kigali has recovered about Rwf20 million which has been stolen from DABCO, a local-based Turkish construction and trading company, early this week.
The money was recovered from two members of the firm employees following Police thorough investigations, who were also arrested.
The duo identified as Chantal Bakundukize and Eric Tuyisenge are currently detained at Remera Police Station.
The money, in different currencies including dollars and Euros, had been stolen on December 2 from the firm’s offices in Kagugu cell of Kinyinya sector in Gasabo district.
Police Spokesperson, Chief Supt, Celestin Twahirwa said after the victims filed a theft case on the same day, Police launched immediate investigations.
“Nine people, all employees of the firm were immediately arrested to assist investigations and after thorough screening, investigations indicated that only these two had gained access to where the money was kept, earlier that day,” CSP Twahirwa said.
“As investigations continued, both Chantal and Eric confessed that they connived and stole the money,” he added.
Part of the money was found hidden in bricks in the backyard of the offices while the other part was in maize flour wrapped in a bag and kept in a shop in the neighborhood.
The money was on Saturday handed over to Emre Cicek, the Managing Director of DABCO.
The suspects also confessed stealing the money but faulted their bosses for negligence.
“We agreed that we steal the money and share it, but I regret my actions. It is my first time to steal and to be arrested and I beg for lenience,” the 30-year old Bakundukize, a cook who had worked for the firm for a year now, said.
Her accomplice, Tuyisenge also supplemented her argument adding that they stole the money from the drawer and from the wallet in one of the office rooms.
“We reached at the office early in the morning before our bosses arrived and together we entered the room where the money was because neither the room nor the drawer was locked. We took the money and hid it separately,” Tuyisenge said.
DABCO Managing Director, Emre Cicek also confirmed that the room where the money had been kept was actually not closed but added that they had gained trust from these two employees and that they even had keys to their office rooms.
“We are a new company in Rwanda (over a year) and these two were like our brother and sister. We were giving them better offers on top of their salary (Rwf100, 000 each) and we had agreed that we also pay their school fees,” Emre said.
“As a new company, we were also building trust among our employees. As we grow, we also want our employees to grow with us and that starts with trust on both sides and giving them better offers on our side,” he added.
Emre was also full of praises for Police for recovering their money.
“You can’t find this in many other countries. Even in developed countries where there are CCTV cameras, it’s hard to recover such big amount of money in just three days and we are grateful for the Rwanda Police professionalism which assures safety not only of Rwandans but also foreigners and this is a big boost in investment,” he noted.
CSP Twahirwa also challenged the business community to always be vigilant and keep money away from eyes of others.
“Much as you trust your employees, keeping money in an accessible place especially when it is in big sums, can tempt someone to steal it. We urge them to keep their money in financial institutions where it will be safe to prevent such crimes from happening,” he added.
Theft without violence or threat, under article 300 of the penal code in punishable with a sentence of up to two years in prison and a fine of two to 5 times the value of the stolen property or one of these penalties, if convicted.
