BoU loses bid to join Ham-DTB loan case

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an application by Bank of Uganda (BoU) seeking to be allowed to join the Ham-DTB Bank loan case.

BoU applied to join the case as an amicus curiae (a person who is not a party to a case but assists court by offering information, expertise, or insight into the issues in the case).

 Court of Appeal judges led by Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera unanimously dismissed BoU’s application for lack of merit.  
Other judges are Kenneth Kakuru and Christopher Madrama.

The court ruled that BoU did not fulfil the requirement of neutrality and impartiality in relation to the decision of the High Court.
The judges observed that BoU had argued that it is adversely affected by the court orders in the performance of its statutory duties.

“From the application, it is our determination that the applicant’s interest can only be served as a party and not as amicus curiae. We further state that the applicant is free to apply to join the proceedings as a party with sufficient interest and at the discretion of court, file submissions as a regulator on matters in the suit and judgment relating to its statutory duties,” the judges ruled.

According to the court ruling, BoU’s application is a contradiction of interest.
 “…the applicant wants to appear and address the court as a friend of the court. Either the applicant is a neutral and impartial person or an intervener with sufficient interest in the matters so as to be joined as a party in its own right,” the judges noted.

The decision against BoU’s interest in the case was delivered when the court had convened to hear an appeal in which DTB Limited is challenging last year’s High Court orders that outlawed the loan given to businessman Ham Kiggundu.
The Court of Appeal judges have set February 17 to hear the DTB appeal.

Background
The case
On October 12 last year, DTB Uganda appealed the High Court judgment which ordered the bank to refund Mr Kiggundu $23.2m (Shs34b) he took as a loan, which court declared illegal.

Trial judge Henry Peter Adonyo had ruled that the money was illegally recovered from Mr Kiggundu’s bank accounts for repayment of loans the bank lent to him illegally.
 The court also ordered the bank to return all property that Mr Kiggundu had mortgaged for the loan.

The bank petitioned the Principal Judge seeking stay of the orders until its appeal was disposed of. The request was granted and Principal Judge Flavian Zeija halted the refund and return of the mortgage property.