Following last week’s landmark Supreme Court ruling that upheld lower courts’ rulings that Crane Bank should be returned to its shareholders and that Bank of Uganda should meet the costs of the suits against tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia and his Meera Investments, the central bank has released a statement on the ruling.
BoU says it is still pursuing one of the grounds to the case which “relates to the interpretation and application of the substituted section of the Financial Institutions Act”.
The central bank also says that “the main suit in relation to a claim against the shareholders for wrongful extraction of funds from Crane Bank…has never been heard on its merits.”
Legal analysts however believe BoU is on a mission to waste more taxpayers’ money if they continue pursuing a matter that has been decided by the highest court in the land.
Analysts describe BoU’s statement as ‘limp” and that the bank was trying to save face.
“The Supreme Court had nothing to decide and did not as the would have been appeal was withdrawn by the appellant itself. There is no decision to review.”
Another analyst said: “It’s a shame that BoU issued such [statement]. Once the appeal was withdrawn, all pending applications collapsed. An application arising out of an existent appeal can’t stand on its own.”
Background
The five-year court battle arose from BoU’s takeover of Crane Bank in October 2016 citing under capitalisation.
BoU sold Crane Bank to Dfcu Bank in January 2017 and sued Sudhir and his Meera Investments of siphoning Shs397 billion out of the bank. Sudhir pled innocent and the courts vindicated him. He now awaits BoU to settle costs of the multiple law suits that are estimated in several billions.