City tycoon, Sudhir Ruparelia, his heir Rajiv and their lawyers triumphantly walked out of the Commercial Court in Kampala, this morning after the dismissal of a multibillion commercial dispute that had been filed against them by Crane Bank in receivership.
In his ruling, the head of the commercial court, David Wangutusi, observed that Crane Bank in receivership at the time of instituting the commercial suit against the businessman and his Meera Investments company, was none existent, hence never had powers to sue.
The court ruling reads in part; “In conclusion, the plaintiff/ respondent (Crane Bank in receivership) did not have jurisdiction to file HCCS no. 493 of 2017. It’s also my finding that the property the plaintiff was seeking when she filed the suit on June 30th 2017 had earlier been given away by the receiver to Dfcu bank on 24th January 2017, four days into receivership and five months before filing of this suit this leaving the plaintiff/ respondent with no property.”
The Court further condemned BoU to costs that Dr Ruparelia had spent in prosecuting this law suit, on grounds that it’s the one that lodged the suit on behalf of defunct Crane Bank.
The lawyers of Crane Bank accused Mr Ruparelia of taking Shs397b out of the financial institution in fraudulent transactions and land title transfers.
