Kampala, (UG):- The Commercial Division of the High Court has dismissed with costs an appeal by troubled businessman Patrick Bitature seeking to defend a $13 million (Shs48 billion) debt owed to Absa Bank.
In a ruling delivered on September 16, Presiding Judge Harriet Grace Magala dismissed the application with costs, labelling it an abuse of the court process as there were no triable issues.
Bitature was sued as the guarantor of $13,568,876 on behalf of Electro-Maxx (U) Ltd which entered a consent judgment with Absa Bank, which was varied twice and signed by the court.
In her ruling, Judge Magala said, “The applicant (Mr. Bitature) as a director and guarantor of Electro-Maxx (U) Ltd accepted the terms of the consent judgment and partly honored its terms. The applicant, basing on the second variation signed a consent deed and further accepted the terms of the consent judgment, but now turns around to dispute the same.”
She added, “I find this application an abuse of the court process. In the premises, this application is dismissed with costs to the respondent (Absa Bank) and judgment entered against the defendants in Civil Suit no. 1190 of 2023.”
Court records show that Electro-Maxx paid 13 instalments out of the agreed 46, but then sought to set aside the consent judgment and stay the execution, which were both dismissed by Justice Stephen Mubiru.
The court noted, “Later, the principal debtor (Electro-Maxx) paid in 13 instalments out of the agreed forty-six instalments but then sought to set aside the consent judgment and stay the execution, and both applications were dismissed by Justice Stephen Mubiru.”
Regarding Bitature’s denial of consenting to the guarantee, the court stated, “The applicant (Mr Bitature) denies consenting to any guarantee under the consent judgment but on perusal of Annexure B to the affidavit in reply to the application, the document (consent deed) bears the signature of the applicant above his name as a guarantor.”
The court further explained, “The principle of approbation and reprobation is based on the doctrine of election, which postulates that no party can accept and reject the same instrument and that a person cannot say at one time that a transaction is valid and thereby obtain some advantage, to which he could only be entitled on the footing that it is valid, and then, turn around and say it is void for the purpose of securing some other advantage.”
The businessman whose empire also includes hotels, real estate, and a telecoms retailer, has also been in a long-running legal dispute with Vantage, a South African financier. In August last year a London-based arbitrator ordered Mr Bitature, his wife and their respective companies to pay Shs244 billion to the South African lender.
The London arbitration followed several lawsuits in Uganda in which lawyers acting for Mr Bitature sought unsuccessfully to nullify the loans on the basis that the South African company did not have a physical presence in Uganda and was not a regulated lender.
The recent dismissal of Bitature’s application could now pave the way for Absa Bank to recover the debt from him.
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