DFCU managers to stand trial in Crane bank case in UK court

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | DFCU Bank Ltd and its former managers will now stand trial in the UK following the loss of a bid to bar legal action in the London courts brought against them by Crane Bank Ltd.

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in London on Monday dismissed with costs and the appeal by DFCU Bank Ltd and others, and Mugerwa and others. The appellants were seeking permission to appeal the order made by the Court of Appeal on July 26, 2023, and the notices of objection filed by the respondents.

“Permission to appeal be refused because the applications do not raise an arguable point of law which the court should consider at this time (ie. before trial),” reads the ruling by Lord Lloyd-Jones Lord Leggatt, and Lord Burrows.

In each application the Appellants are also directed to pay Crane Bank its costs, “the amount of those costs to be assessed if not agreed,” says the judgment issued by Laura Angus, the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

DFCU Ltd’s current and former directors and managers include Juma Kisaame, Jimmy Mugerwa, and William Sekabembe, CDC Group PLC, Norfinance AS, Rabo Partnership B.V., Arise B.V., Stephen Caley, Michael Alan Turner, Albert Jonkergouw, Willem Cramer, Ola Rinnan and Deepak Malik.

Crane Bank Ltd, majority-owned by Ugandan businessman Sudhir Ruparelia has been battling to recover more than 220 million Dollars (about 800 billion Shillings) from what it says was an illegal sale and transfer of its assets and liabilities to DFCU.

Crane Bank sought redress in the UK High Court in December 2020 challenging the sale of some assets and transfer of some of the liabilities to DFCU by Bank of Uganda in 2017. Initially, the UK High Court dismissed CBL’s suit, after it was challenged by DFCU, on grounds that it was based on actions done by the Bank of Uganda and therefore not triable in the UK.

However, the Court of Appeal of the UK later ruled that some of the acts were commercial in nature and therefore triable in England.

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