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Simbamanyo Estates suffers loss in court
Simbamanyo House was bought by Meera Investments Limited in 2020. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
In the ruling, the Commercial Court Registrar, Mr Elias Kisawuzi, ordered Simbamanyo Estates Limited and Mr Kamya, to pay Shs600m to Equity Bank Uganda Limited, Shs400m to Meera Investments Limited and Shs300m to Luwaluwa Investments Limited
Court has ordered Simbamanyo Estates Limited and its proprietor Peter Kamya to pay Shs1.3b in legal costs to Equity Bank Uganda Limited and two business firms.
In the ruling, the Commercial Court Registrar, Mr Elias Kisawuzi, ordered Simbamanyo Estates Limited and Mr Kamya, to pay Shs600m to Equity Bank Uganda Limited, Shs400m to Meera Investments Limited and Shs300m to Luwaluwa Investments Limited.
Mr Kisawuzi held that the bank and the business entities presented three bills for the cases, which the court dismissed with costs.
The court also dismissed the six cases filed by Simbamanyo Estates Limited and Mr Kamya.
The two parties had sought cancellation of the sale and transfer of properties on Lumumba Avenue (Simbamanyo House) and land at Mutungo Hill (Afrique Suites).
In October 2020, the court dismissed with costs an application in which Simbamanyo Estates had sought a temporary mandatory injunction.
It also wanted orders to be restored in ownership, possession, control and operations of office block rental business.
The court in February this year declared that Simbamanyo Estates, which was challenging the sale abatement, for failure of the complainant to take out summons and the appeal against abatement, was also dismissed with costs.
Court records show that Equity Bank Limited sold the properties to recover a $10m (about Shs40b) loan acquired by Simbamanyo Estates Limited in 2017.
The court heard that Meera Investments purchased Simbamanyo House, which houses the Ministry of Gender, while Luwaluwa Investments Limited acquired Afrique Suites on Mutungo Hill in Nakawa Division.
According to the ruling, the costs include fees, charges, disbursements, remuneration and reimbursements allowed to a litigant in person.
“The general rule remains that the unsuccessful party will be ordered to pay the costs of the successful party, but the court may make a different order. In other words, the court may decide that a successful party must not be awarded his or her costs,” the court said.
Simbamanyo Estates Limited has been embroiled in numerous court battles against the bank in which it challenged the legality of the $10.5m unpaid loan.
The bank argued that the proprietors of Simbamanyo Estates defaulted on their loan obligations when they failed to pay any money as required by the contract signed.
