By APN editorial
apearlnews.com
As the five-year legal battle comes to an end, the Supreme Court in Kampala has ordered that Crane Bank’s management be returned to its shareholders, while also ordering the Bank of Uganda to pay costs.
The Bank of Uganda (BoU)/Crane Bank in receivership has accused Sudhir Ruparelia and Meera Investments Limited of allegedly defrauding the defunct Crane Bank Limited (CBL) of Shs397 billion, which the central bank wants to be repaid.
In 2019, the Commercial Court dismissed the Bank of Uganda’s case against Sudhir Ruparelia, which sought to recover Shs 379 billion from him.
As a result, the court ruled that Crane Bank was a non-existent entity since it was placed in receivership three years ago.
After losing the case, BoU appealed to the Court of Appeal to challenge the lower court’s decision, but lost again, prompting them to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
However, shortly after filing an appeal, BoU sought to withdraw it before it could be heard, prompting Sudhir’s Kampala Associated Advocates lawyers to object to the withdrawal.
On Friday, five Supreme Court justices, including Rubby Opio Aweri, Percy Tuhaise, Ezekiel Muhanguzi, Prof.Tibatemwa Ekirikubinza, and Faith Mwondha, dismissed BoU’s appeal but ordered the central bank to pay costs in the terms determined by the Court of Appeal.
“To avoid doubt, the Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s decision, which ordered that the Bank of Uganda bear the costs of the suit because it was responsible for the filing of the suit and other subsequent actions.
That order shall be enforced “the Supreme Court ordered
The five justices also agreed with the Court of Appeal that Crane Bank’s management should be returned to the shareholders, including Sudhir Ruparelia and Meera Investments Limited, because the receivership ended in 2018.
“We considered this aspect as well in our ruling and determined that the appellant’s (Crane Bank in receivership) receivership had ended on January 20, 2018.
The implication of that finding, in our opinion, is that the appellant’s management be returned to shareholders after January 20, 2018 “the court-ordered
