France has assigned magistrates to investigate allegations that
banking giant BNP Paribas was complicit in the 1994 genocide of the
Tutsi minority in Rwanda, a source close to the case told AFP Monday.
In
June, three non-governmental organisations filed a lawsuit accusing the
bank of financing the purchase of "80 tonnes of arms used to carry out
genocide" by the Hutu regime, even though "the bank had to have known
the genocidal intentions of the country's authorities".
The
Paris judiciary confirmed Monday that it opened an investigation for
"complicity in genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity" on
August 22, and asked the Paris genocide and war crimes division, which
is already handling 25 other cases linked to the Rwandan genocide, to
run the probe.
The lawsuit was filed in France by
Sherpa, which defends victims of economic crimes; Ibuka France, a Rwanda
victims' association; and the France-based Collective of Civil Parties
for Rwanda, which pursues claims against genocide suspects.
The
NGOs say BNP authorised the transfer of $1.3 million (1.1 million euros
at current rates / about Sh136 million) to the regime in June 1994, one
month after the United Nations had placed an embargo on weapons
deliveries to Rwanda.
BNP is France's biggest bank and among the world's top 10.
The
plaintiffs allege that BNP authorised the transfer of the money that
was held by Rwanda's national bank (BNR) to an account held at Swiss
bank UBP by Willem Tertius Ehlers, a South African intermediary who
owned an arms-dealing brokerage called Delta Aero.
The four-month genocide led to the massacre of about 800,000 people, mostly from Rwanda's Tutsi minority.
Kigali
has repeatedly accused Paris of having a hand in the genocide and of
being slow to prosecute some of its kingpins living in France.
The case is the first time a French bank is under suspicion of being involved in the genocide.
Key CBK Indicative Exchange Rate Used: 1 Euro = Sh123.6
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