By Kerry Howard Mwesigwa
The Supreme Court of Uganda has awarded costs of Shs500m to the lawyers representing Meera Investments and businessman Sudhir Ruparelia in their dispute against the Bank of Uganda (BoU). The conflict revolved around an accusation by Crane Bank, in receivership, that Sudhir Ruparelia had misappropriated Shs397billion while serving as director and shareholder of Meera Investment Company.
Initially, the court registrar had awarded costs of Shs45b. However, Justice Mike Chibita overruled this decision, deeming the amount excessive due to the premature withdrawal of Crane Bank’s appeal, which resulted in less work for the lawyers. Justice Chibita stressed that instruction fees should strike a balance between being accessible to the public and providing fair compensation to legal professionals.
In his ruling, Justice Chibita set aside the initial sum of Shs45b and instead awarded the lawyers Shs5m for each interlocutory application in the case. He rejected what he referred to as double taxation.
In October 2016, the Bank of Uganda (BoU) placed Crane Bank under statutory management due to its under capitalization. Subsequently, the Central Bank put Crane Bank into receivership and sold some of its assets and liabilities to dfcu Bank. In June 2017, Crane Bank filed a commercial case before the High Court in an attempt to recover over Shs397b from Sudhir Ruparelia. However, the case was dismissed on the basis that Crane Bank lost its corporate personality or legal power to sue or be sued once it was placed under receivership. Both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court dismissed BoU’s appeals.
