UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | Commercial Court ordered the Simbamanyo Estates proprietor Peter Kamya to pay USh 1.3b in legal costs resulting from five applications he lost to Equity Bank Uganda and two business firms; Meera Investments Limited owned by Dr Sudhir Ruparelia, and Luwaluwa Investments Limited.
In the ruling, the Court Registrar, Mr Elias Kisawuzi, ordered Simbamanyo proprietor to pay USh 600m to Equity Bank Uganda Limited, Ush 400m to Meera Investments Limited and USh 300m to Luwaluwa Investments Limited.
Mr Kisawuzi held that Equity Bank and the two business entities presented three bills for the cases, which the courts had dismissed with costs.
According to Mr Kisawuzi’s judgment, the costs include fees, disbursements charges, remuneration and reimbursements granted to the litigant in person.
The court said “The general rule remains that the unsuccessful party will be ordered to pay the costs of the successful party, but the court may make a different order. In other words, the court may decide that a successful party must not be awarded his or her costs.”
The commercial court also dismissed six other cases filed by Mr Kamya.
Mr Kamya had sought cancellation of the sale and transfer of Simbamanyo House on Lumumba Avenue and Afrique Suites at Mutungo Hill.
The court, in October 2020, dismissed with costs an application in which Simbamanyo Estates had sought a temporary mandatory injunction.
Simbamanyo also wanted orders to be restored in ownership, possession, control and operations of the office block rental business.
The court in February further dismissed with costs another application by Simbamanyo Estates, which was challenging the sale abatement.
Court records show that Equity Bank Limited sold the properties to recover a US$10m (about USh 40b) loan acquired by Simbamanyo Estates Limited in 2017.
According to court documents, the loan interest was 10%, with a default interest rate of 3%.
The court heard that Meera Investments purchased Simbamanyo House, where the Ministry of Gender is, while Luwaluwa Investments Limited bought Afrique Suites on Mutungo Hill in Nakawa Division.
Simbamanyo Estates Limited has been fighting Equity Bank in court for several years, challenging the legitimacy of the US$10.5 million in unpaid loans.
The bank argued that the proprietors of Simbamanyo Estates defaulted on their loan obligations when they failed to pay, as required by the contract signed.
In February, registrar Lillian Bucyana dismissed the case in which Simbamanyo Estates and the owner, Mr Kamya, were challenging the sale of his multi-billion property by equity to recover US$10.8m (Ush40b).
However, through his lawyers, Mr Kamya appealed against the ruling and sought the case to be reinstated.
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