The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has dismissed an attempt by Uganda’s dfcu bank and its shareholders, to block a 825.8 billion suit brought against them by shareholders of the defunct Crane Bank .
Last year, the Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom (UK) ruled that the High Court of England has the jurisdiction to hear the Shs 800 billion claim filed by Ugandan businessman Sudhir Ruparelia against Dfcu Bank Limited over the purchase of Crane bank.
Dissatisfied with the decision, dfcu bank ran to the Supreme Court to challenge the same.
However, in a July 8 ruling, the Supreme Court’s trio of Lord Lloyd Jones, Lord Leggatt and Lord Burrows ruled that the permission to appeal the Court of Appeal decision sought by dfcu bank couldn’t stand.
“The permission to appeal is refused because the applications don’t raise an arguable point of law which the court should consider at this time before trial,” the three justices ruled.
They ordered that in each application, dfcu bank pays Crane Bank and its shareholders , costs .
Background
Crane Bank Limited, Sudhir Ruparelia, Jyotsna Ruparelia, Meera Ruparelia, Rajiv Ruparelia, Tom Mugenga, and Sheena Ruparelia last year won an appeal against dfcu bank and other shareholders, following a previous decision by the High court which stated that the English courts have no authority to hear the claim brought by Crane bank and its shareholders.
In 2016, BoU took over the management of Crane bank, closed it, and sold off some of its assets and liabilities to Dfcu over alleged fraudulent financial activities
Crane bank alleges that Dfcu, its executives, and financiers, including one based in the UK, colluded with BoU to fraudulently take over its assets .
The legal battles have been raging since then.
