KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Commercial Court in Kampala has ordered Tycoon Peter Kamya the proprietor of Simbamanyo Estates Limited to pay Shs 1.3 billion in legal costs to Equity Bank Uganda Limited and two business firms; Meera Investments Limited and Luwaluwa Investments Limited after losing his appeal challenging the sale of his Simbamanyo House after failing to pay back his bank loan.
In the ruling delivered on Thursday, November 18, 2021, the Commercial Court Registrar, Mr. Elias Kisawuzi ordered Simbamanyo and Kamya to pay Shs 600 million to Equity Bank, Shs 400 million to Meera Investments, and Shs 300 million to Luwaluwa Investments.
Kisawuza held that the bank and the business entities presented three bills for the cases, which the court dismissed with costs.
According to the ruling, the costs include; fees, charges, disbursements, remuneration and reimbursements allowed to a litigant in person.
“The general rule remains that unsuccessful party will be ordered to pay the costs to the successful party, but the court may make a different order. In other words, the court may decide that as successful party must not be awarded his or her costs,” the court said.
Simbamanyo and Kamya had filed an application to stop the sale and transfer of their properties; Simbamanyo House located along Lumumba Avenue and Afrique suites in Mutungo. In October 2020 the court dismissed the application with costs.
Records show that Equity bank sold the properties to recover its USD 10 million loan acquired by Simbamanyo in 2017.
The Simbamanyo House was acquired at $5 million (Shs18.5 billion) by Meera Investments Limited which is owned by city tycoon and businessman Sudhir Ruparelia. The building has since been renamed the Gender and Labour House.
Simbamanyo has been involved in numerous court battles against the bank in which it challenged the legality of the USD 10.5 million unpaid loans.
The bank argued that the proprietors of Simbamanyo defaulted on their loan obligations when they failed to pay any money as required by the contract.
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