Bank of France hit with legal complaint over alleged role in Rwanda genocide

The Bank of France is facing a formal legal complaint accusing it of involvement in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The complaint was filed on 4 December before the Paris judicial court’s unit dedicated to crimes against humanity.

According to the civil plaintiffs, including the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda (CPCR), the Bank of France allegedly allowed seven financial transfers to the National Bank of Rwanda between May and August 1994—at the height of the genocide. The payments, totaling the equivalent of about €486,000 today, reportedly continued even after the UN imposed an arms embargo on 17 May 1994.

The plaintiffs argue that these transactions may have supplied the interim Rwandan government with funds that could have supported the procurement of equipment deemed critical to the genocidal regime, potentially facilitating the violence.

The Bank of France has responded by saying it has no remaining trace of these transfers, noting that many records older than ten years are routinely destroyed.

The case opens a new chapter in ongoing efforts to clarify France’s role during the genocide. A judicial investigation is expected to determine whether the central bank failed in its duty of oversight and whether these transfers contributed to enabling crimes committed during one of the 20th century’s deadliest atrocities.