The Supreme Court has ordered Bank of Uganda to pay businessman Sudhir Ruparelia and his firm Meera Investments Ltd Shs 1 billion as legal costs in their long-running dispute over the closure of Crane Bank.
The conflict began in 2016 when the Bank of Uganda placed Crane Bank under receivership due to financial irregularities. In 2017, acting on behalf of Crane Bank, the Bank of Uganda sued Ruparelia and Meera Investments Limited, part of the Ruparelia Group.
The suit alleged that Ruparelia, as a director and shareholder, had misappropriated significant sums $80 million, $9.27 million, $3.56 million, $990,000, and Shs 52.08 billion through breaches of fiduciary duty.
Additionally, it was claimed that Meera Investments dishonestly acquired 48 properties, including Crane Bank’s branch network, without payment.
Sudhir and Meera successfully defended the case, arguing that Crane Bank (in receivership) lacked the legal standing to sue. The High Court dismissed the suit in 2018, ordering the Bank of Uganda to pay costs.
Dissatisfied, Crane Bank (under the direction of Bank of Uganda) appealed to the Court of Appeal, which upheld the dismissal, and then to the Supreme Court, where the appeal was also dismissed with costs to the applicants in 2021.
After the legal victories, Ruparelia and Meera Investments were awarded Shs 458 billion in legal costs. Justice Chibita reduced this figure significantly in 2023 to Shs 500 million, prompting Sudhir to escalate the matter to the Supreme Court, which has now ruled that the applicants should be paid a total of Shs 1 billion.
The Supreme Court confirmed that Ruparelia and his firm were entitled to a huge sum to cover their lawyers’ work, research, and other expenses from defending the original claims.
In his ruling, Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo stressed the “indemnity principle” which means that winners should be fully reimbursed for reasonable costs to ensure access to justice
