The Supreme Court has ordered that Bank of Uganda pays costs of a 5 year legal battle to businessman Sudhir Ruparelia – the former owner of Crane Bank Ltd.
Five justices of the Court led by Apio Aweri have unanimously ruled that since Bank of Uganda chose to withdraw its appeal, it meant that the earlier orders of the 2 lower courts which dismissed the case with costs still stand.
The justices have further ordered that since Crane Bank receivership ended in 2018 – Crane Bank Ltd as a company reverts to Sudhir and his other co- share holders.
The ruling is a climax of a 5 year dispute between Sudhir Ruparelia, his company Meera investment Ltd, his former Bank – Crane Bank Ltd and his accuser Bank of Uganda. The case arose in 2017 when Bank of Uganda accused Sudhir and Meera Investments of siphoning over 397 billion shillings from his former Crane Bank.
However Commercial court judge David Wangututsi dismissed the case with costs on grounds that he found no misconduct on the side of Sudhir to warrant prosecution- This position was also maintained by the Court of Appeal in 2020.
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