KAMPALA, UGANDA: Businessman Patrick Bitature has announced he will appeal against the decision of the High Court that ruled in favor of Vantage Mezzanine Fund okaying the auction of his prime properties.
Through his lawyers led by Fred Muwema of Muwema and Company Advocates, the businessman said he was studying the court ruling issued on Wednesday, 15 June 2022. “We are studying the judgement and considering the possibility of appealing,” Muwema told journalists shortly after Wednesday’s ruling.
In a 21-page ruling delivered on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, Justice Stephen Mubiru, who heads the Commercial Division of the High Court dismissed Bitature’s application seeking a temporary injunction on auctioning of four of his mega properties in the ongoing loan saga with Vantage Mezzanine Fund, a South African entity.
Justice Mubiru argued it was unfortunate that Simba Properties sued Counsel Robert Kirunda, Counsel Noah Shamah Wasige of Kirunda and Wasige Advocates and Bailiff Festus Katerega of Quick Way Auctioneers and Court Bailiff in their individual capacity, yet they were representing a known entity (Vantage) when they advertised their properties for auctioning in the newspapers.
The background to this ruling according to court documents, is that the advertisement for the aforementioned prime properties, followed a history of litigation between Simba Properties and Vantage that begun in December, 2014 when the former borrowed money from the latter.
The properties that were advertised on May 18, 2022 in various newspapers; include; Elizabeth apartments in Kololo, Protea Hotel (Skyz’s Hotel) in Naguru, Moyo Close apartments and Kololo gardens in Kampala.
“On the basis of all the foregoing considerations, I found that this application and the underlying suit, were entirely misconceived on account of the fact that they were instituted against agents of a known principal and on ground that the matters placed in issue in the suit are already the subject of a subsisting arbitral process,” ruled Justice Mubiru.
With the ruling of the court, it means that Vantage can go ahead and advertise and sale the aforementioned properties and recover its outstanding loan against the businessman Bitature.
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