BOU appeal in Sudhir case dismissed

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed an appeal and upheld the decision of the High Court in a suit filed by Bank of Uganda, on behalf of Crane Bank Ltd (in receivership), against Sudhir Ruparelia and Meera Investments Ltd.

In dismissing the appeal, the Court of Appeal held that the trial judge was satisfied that the preliminary points of law which the Respondents raised were based on the presumption that the facts in the plaint were true and that the points of law, if upheld, were sufficient to conclude the case.

Court of Appeal Justices, Alphonse Owiny Dollo; Cheborion Barishaki and Stephen Musota agreed with AN earlier ruling by Commercial Court Judge Justice David K. Wangutusi’s August 26th 2019 that a bank in receivership, under the Financial Institutions Act (2004) cannot sue or be sued and therefore and therefore Crane Bank (in receivership) cannot and should not have sued businessman Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia and his company Meera Investments.

Delivering their ruling , Civil Appeal 252 of 2019 at the Court of Appeal, the trio also ruled that Crane Bank (in receivership) being a foreign owned bank, cannot own freehold land in Uganda and therefore has no legal basis to sue Dr. Sudhir for land it cannot own.

“The appeal consequently fails. It is thus dismissed with costs here and the court below,” ruled the justices.

This is the second time, Bank of Uganda’s case- HCCS 493 of 2017, in which BoU, through Crane Bank (in receivership) alleged that the businessman fraudulently took out up to $92.8m (about Shs334b) and another Shs 8.2 billion of depositors’ money from Crane Bank for personal gain, has failed.

FULL RULING

Crane Bank Ltd vs Sudhir Ruparelia by The Independent Magazine on Scribd