The lawyers representing businessman Hamis Kiggundu in the case against Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) Uganda and Kenya have vowed to appeal the ruling issued by the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Uganda.
In the ruling issued on Wednesday, the Court of Appeal deferred the landmark case between HAm vs DTB back to the Commercial Court for retrial disclosing that it must be on its merits.
However, through his lawyer Fred Muwema, Ham has come out to accuse the Court of Appeal of shying away from pronouncing itself on the legalities of the case and said they’ll take another step to appeal against the ruling made.
“Since the court has shied away from pronouncing itself on the illegalities, we don’t accept to go back for a retrial, we are going to appeal, even if it means going to the East African Court after, we shall go there,” Muwema said.
Justices Richard Buteera, Kenneth Kakuru and Christopher Madrama on Wednesday unanimously ruled that there is no law in Uganda that makes it illegal for a Ugandan citizen or a foreigner resident in Uganda to borrow or pay back money borrowed from a foreigner, foreign institution or bank.
“A loan agreement with a foreigner or a foreign entity whether the contract is executed in Uganda or outside Uganda, would be enforced by a Ugandan court in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the parties, the laws of the respective countries in which the agreement is made,” he ruled.
Commercial Court judge Henry Adonyo had declared that since DTB Kenya was not licenced to conduct financial business in Uganda, the loans extended to Ham Enterprises were irregular, null and void. He had also held that by acting as a collecting agent for DTB Kenya, DTB Uganda had contravened the Financial Institutions Act and Agent Bank regulations.
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