The head of the Commercial Division of the High Court Justice Stephen Mubiru has fused the garnishee orders controversial city tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia was looking for to recover Shs8bn from DFCU bank accounts in the Bank of Uganda.
In his ruling, Justice Mubiru stayed the process of executing the orders issued by the Commercial Division of the High Court against the bank until the determination of the appeal filed in the Court of Appeal explaining that the appellant has exhibited that there is a high chances of them winning the appeal and allowing the respondent to execute the orders issued by the lower court against it will affect the running of their business.
“I am therefore satisfied that execution would cause significant difficulty, expense and disruption, beyond that to which every judgment debtor is necessarily subjected when he or she loses his or her case and is deprived of his or her property in consequence. If an order of stay is not granted, execution is likely to inflict greater hardship than it would avoid,” the judge stated.
The ruling resulted from an application filed by the bank through their lawyers of Katende, Ssempebwa and Company Advocates seeking court protection because the respondent had already filed a Garnishee Order against the bank before the Commercial Division of the High Court aimed at attaching the bank’s accounts held in Bank of Uganda to satisfy the decree and costs.
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The lawyers pleaded to court that the bank is ready and willing to provide security for the performance of the decree upon such terms as may be determined by Court if court can save them from the ruthless tycoon who was determined to frustrate the operations of their business in the country.
However, the tycoon through his Crane Management Service Limited insisted that the said application is a reaction to the garnishee application with an intention of averting and disrupting the execution proceedings aimed at rendering the application malafide.
They added that the bank has no right of audience in the garnishee proceedings against it.
The tycoon’s company lawyers of Magna Advocates told Court that their client is willing to return the money which was set to be collected from its bank accounts in the Bank of Uganda if defeated at the Court of Appeal since he is a known landlord in the country and has the capacity of returning the Shs8bn but he cannot allow the bank to continue enjoying life when he has already been declared by court as a debtor.
The legal battle resulted from a five year tenancy agreement signed in October 2013 which was supposed to end in 2018 between the bank and tycoon Sudhir’s Meera Investments Limited company in respect to renting his multiple properties.
After DFCU defaulted on its rental obligations, the tycoon filed a suit against them to recover his rent arrears with interest, general damages and costs to the sum of US $ 385,728.54 and Shs2,998,558,624/=.
The judgment was subsequently delivered on 16th August, 2024 in favour of the tycoon.
