The transfers totalled 3.17 million French francs (€486,000, or $570,942) and are suspected of having been used to procure communication equipment and weapons, despite a UN arms embargo that had been in place since May 17 of that year.
The plaintiffs claim the authorisation of the transfers raises serious questions about the bank’s oversight and its potential role in enabling illicit purchases during the height of the genocide.
‘Red flags’
The complaint also draws heavily on testimony from international expert Kathi Lynn Austin, who said that “precise instructions” were issued to banks to facilitate transfers to the National Bank of Rwanda’s account in Paris.
Austin said the pattern of activity should have raised immediate concerns, noting that “when the French central bank facilitated these transactions, it should have recognised the red flags associated with them.”
Fauthier criticised the “extreme slowness” of judicial proceedings related to the genocide, noting that similar cases, including a 2017 complaint filed against BNP Paribas, have remained dormant for years.
The Bank of France has not issued a detailed response but has indicated it has no record in its archives of any of the transfers in question, explaining that such documents are routinely destroyed after 10 years.
The institution added that the amounts mentioned “could be consistent with operational expenses”.