By Frank Kamuntu
On Tuesday this week Supreme Court Justice Tuhaise Percy read a ruling on Hamis Kiggundu, Diamond Trust Band (DTB) fraudulent case under which the businessman seeks to recover over Ugx120billion that was withdrawn from his accounts without his consent.
In the ruling, Court reverted this case for retrial at the Commercial Division of the High Court after quashing the issue of the illegalities and ordered Ham to pay 50% to DTB bank.
The above ruling however left some Ugandans furious among them including Resident City Commissioner for Rubaga Division, Anderson Burora who believes that ”barbarism and nyokory” are openly the way to go in the Ham Kigundu Vs DTB Kenya.
”The Supreme Court in my view openly legalized Money Laundering, Declared Financial Intelligence Authority useless, and declared all the Financial Institutions Laws in Uganda Null and Void and for that matter, Barbarism and Nyokory are openly the way to go in the Ham Kigundu Vs DTB Kenya,” says Burora.
Burora says the judgment leaves many Ugandans doubting whether the Bank of Uganda is not under captive if it can watch as Ham battles with a Kenyan bank that crossed borders and came to operate in Uganda without a license.
”From now on onwards, I expect no bank to ask me where my money is coming from or how I got it. If 120bn can enter the Economy and it is colossally repaid with interest, it means it cannot even be taxed and thus the Govt lost so much taxes in that regard. This leaves us in awe as to whether the Bank of Uganda is not under captive. if it can watch as this precedence is set in silence,” says Burora adding,” Cartels are so strong to the extent they pull strings of Justice to their advantage even on Foreign Lands.”
According to Burora, a fair judgment should have been inked this way;
1. Ham Pays without interest.
2. That DTB Kenya is investigated if it has done similar business in Uganda and it forced all the Taxes that it could have possibly swindled.
3. That DTB Uganda is penalized for running an illegal business in Uganda.
4. That all Parties Pay their Legal obligations.
Background Of This Saga
The case originated from a syndicated banking agreement between Ham Enterprises Ltd and Kiggs International Ltd, and the two banks; DTB Uganda & DTB Kenya.
In October 2020, Commercial Court Judge Henry Peter Adonyo ruled in favor of Kiggundu, ordering DTB Uganda to refund all funds deducted from his accounts illegally. The honorable Court confirmed that the said deductions were made without Kiggundu’s knowledge and consent which was illegal. Records presented to the court revealed that Kiggundu had obtained loans totaling over Shillings 120 billion from DTB Uganda and DTB Kenya between 2011 and 2016 to finance his real estate business.
The dispute arose when the banks claimed that Kiggundu had failed to fulfill his loan obligations, amounting to Shillings 39 billion, as per the agreed terms. They threatened to seize the mortgaged properties. Kiggundu petitioned the commercial court, arguing that the withdrawn funds exceeded the outstanding loan amount, as he had already made full repayment.
Represented by Fred Muwema, Kiggundu sought to strike out the banks’ defenses and obtain an order for the refund of unlawfully obtained funds.
Justice Adonyo dismissed the banks’ defense and directed them to refund the money, along with an 8% interest rate and the costs of the suit but to cut a long story short, all this was overturned by Tuesday’s final judgment that reverted the case to commercial court to determine the facts whether Ham took the loans or not.
3 comments
It seems RDC and many Ugandans do not have the sinews of the case and ruling passed. There was no money laundering. DTB in Uganda symply syndicated with it’s counterpart in Kenya to raise the big amount money he wanted to borrow. Now Ugandans are confused by some people with issues to do with licence and laundering which does not appear anywhere.
Very interesting. Arguing a matter before the public court after loosing in the Apex court.
Equity will not suffer a wrong to be without a remedy. Clean hands; a party must come to court with clean hands. You borrow you pay. Why take illegal money in the first place. If court were to allow such nonsense arguments, the economy would be on its knees. Judicial activism dictated that Kigundu looses
Very ignorant as expected. The RDC should concentrate on matters within his understanding. The supreme court ruling was the simplest and most straight forward.