After years of a protracted legal battle between Bank of Uganda and Crane Bank in receivership and property mogul Sudhir Ruperalia, the storm is set to be over as the Supreme Court is set to rule on whether the Central Bank should pay costs it has continued to elude after losing in lower Courts.
It should be noted that, Bank of Uganda (BOU) and Crane Bank in receivership sued Meera Investments and tycoon Ruparelia of draining the defunct Crane Bank by withdrawing Shs397b when the bank was still running.
The bank was sold off by Bank of Uganda to DFCU and subsequently closed in an awkward process that has since been found to be illegal after the Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) investigated the mess at the Central Bank.
The report of the COSASE committee then Chaired by Bugweri County MP, Abdul Katuntu, in 2019 revealed that BOU had illegally closed seven commercial banks and recommended payments specifically to Crane Bank shareholders.
Back to the legal battles, BOU together with Crane Bank in receivership had sued the tycoon and his Meera Investments demanding to recover the Shs397b. However, the Commercial Court ruled against the Central Bank because Crane Bank was no longer in existence.
In August 2019, Justice David Wangutusi, who presided over the case in Commercial Division of the High Court, awarded costs to the loaded Sudhir but BOU immediately appealed so as not to fork out the taxpayers money to settle woes it started against an individual.
Sudhir would still stand out as the victor when the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Commercial Court hence awarding further costs.
However, before money magnet Sudhir would instruct his lawyers to bill the Central Bank, its legal team dashed to the Supreme Court with a final appeal.
On Tuesday, Supreme Court Justices Opio Weri, Faith Mwondha, Lillian Tibatemwa, Ezakiel Muhanguzi and Percy Tuhaise listened to the arguments between the two sides before saying they will deliver a ruling on notice. This was after BOU applied to Court seeking to withdraw the appeal so that the tycoon can pay his own costs.
Sudhir, who says he has already incurred losses in the closure of the bank and also fighting prolonged legal battles, insists that BOU has no escape route because they must pay costs. At the moment the tycoon and his lawyers have not yet computed the costs.
His lawyer, Peter Kabatsi, irritated with the games being played by BOU, asked the Court to order the central bank to pay the costs to the real estate mogul.
Speaking after the Court session at Kololo, Sudhir insisted that BOU has to pay for its wrong deeds adding that its actions continue to tantamount into contempt of Court.
“The High Court has awarded costs against the Bank of Uganda. The Court of Appeal has awarded costs against the Bank of Uganda. They are trying to play a smart game. Crane Bank in receivership ended on January 20, 2018. Crane Bank is no longer in the control of the central bank, it is back to the shareholders,” Sudhir said.
He wondered why BOU would want to run away from its responsibility and leave it to Crane Bank Ltd to pay the costs of the suit, hence describing such acts as ‘contempt of Court”.
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