Bank of Uganda bows to pressure to speak out on suing Sudhir, admits to paying Sh400 million in legal fees alone before case is heard

By Watchdog reporter

Bank of Uganda has finally broken silence on the issue of suing prominent businessman Sudhir Ruparelia over shs400 billion scam.

According to Bank of Uganda as a receiver of Crane Bank Limited and regulator of the banking sector sanctioned the filing of a suit against Sudhir and Meera Investments Limited to recoup funds that were fraudulently extracted from, as well as losses that were caused to Crane Bank.

BoU’s suit seeks to recover a total of $93.8m and shs60.3bn together with freehold titles to Crane Bank’s branches, general damages, interests and costs in a law suit filed against the business mogul.

Further, in this suit, Bank of Uganda instructed MMAKS Advocates and AF Mpanga Advocates (Bowmans Uganda) to represent Crane Bank.

Court filing fees of shs398.2 million were assessed and paid to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).

Other than that, Bank of Uganda alleges that there has been no payment of legal fees in connection with the suit.

“Bank of Uganda will settle any legal fees in accordance with the law governing remuneration of advocates,” says Management.

“We have observed that there is a lot of unfounded speculation in the media regarding this Court case. We wish to assure the public that any allegations that the suit is being brought by the Bank of Uganda and/or its lawyers for purposes other than the recovery of the funds and properties due to Crane Bank are false,” It further adds.

The Crane Bank saga started with BoU putting it under receivership on October 20, 2016 and transferring its assets and liabilities to DFCU in January this year. At the beginning of this week, news broke that BoU was suing former Crane Bank owner Sudhir Ruparelia and his Meera Investments to return Shs400bn which they claim was siphoned out of the bank while it was still under their control.

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