No criminal investigations against Sudhir - police

KAMPALA. Police have said they are not investigating any criminal offences against businessman, Mr Sudhir Ruparelia, and his businesses.
This follows a spate of incidents before and after the sale of Crane Bank to DFCU Bank, including the theft of the Crane Bank file from the central registry at the Uganda Registration Services Bureau.
This week, there was a raid on Mr Ruparelia’s businesses by immigration and police officers. At least 40 foreigners working for Mr Ruparelia were arrested for operating in the country without work permits this week.
But police spokesman, Mr Andrew Felix Kaweesi, said the arrests were not in connection with any investigations on Mr Ruparelia.
“The case of the arrests of his employees was done by the Directorate of Immigration and Citizenship for illegal stay,” Mr Kaweesi said.
There were also allegations that the Central Bank and police were investigating former Crane Bank top managers, including Mr Ruparelia, for the bank’s owes.
“The Central Bank regulates and supervises these banks. If there was any criminal element, they would have informed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, but the Central Bank has brought no case or complaint Mr Ruparelia to the police,” Mr Kaweesi said.
The Central Bank is carrying out a special audit on performance and general operations of Crane Bank, which was the fourth largest bank in the country, to understand what cause the problems that led to under capitalisation yet it was considered to be one of the best performing banks in the country.
The report has not been released to the public yet but sparked suspicion that police had been instructed to investigate former managers of Crane Bank.