Embattled businessman Patrick Bitature has rubbished reports linking business magnate Sudhir Ruparelia to his debt woes.
In a tweet, the Simba Group of Companies founder and chairman said that he does not believe that anyone in Uganda, and specifically Sudhir is behind his troubles
“I would like to assure all of you that I do not think anybody in Uganda and in particular my long time friend Sudhir Ruperalia is after my property,” Bitature said.
“Unfortunately, this is part of a deliberate smear campaign aimed at eroding both his and my reputation in the eyes of the public,” he added.
Bitature’s statement comes at the backdrop of several social media reports which recently pointed at Sudhir as the possible force behind Vantage Mezzanine’s attempt to take over Bitature’s business empire.
Vantage advertised Bitature’s business properties including Naguru Skyz Hotel over a $10 million loan it advanced to the businessman.
In a statement that he released earlier this week, Bitature blamed the country’s misfortunes in the delays of oil production as partly the reason why his controversial debt with Vintage came back to bite.
He said the money was signed to fund expansion including the completion of Skyz Hotel at Naguru Hill and that the agreement has a three-year freeze to repay both the principal and interest.
He said that at the signing of the agreement in 2014, Vintage was expecting their first payment three years later in 2017 but this could not happen because of “unforeseen circumstances” on his part caused specifically by the delay of the Final Investment Decision on the oil and gas projects.
In his statement, Bitature added that following their inability to service the loan as required, Simba Group re-engaged Vintage to reschedule the loan repayment for another two years (2019).
As 2019 advanced, Vintage issued them a demand notice without factoring in the business challenges owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and delayed business prospects tied to the Ugandan oil production, forcing Bitature to turn to court in protest of the high interest rate of 35 per cent.
Now more recently, Vintage tried to transfer shares in Bitature’s business properties that were staked as security to themselves in what was seen as a bid to recover their loan.
Vintage’s efforts were however blocked by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), saying that they were not a Ugandan registered company and therefore had no jurisdiction to do business on Ugandan soil.
After a court case where they were unsuccessful, Bitature’s lawyer Fred Muwema said that Bitature had no debt to pay because he had dealt with, “a ghost”, a non existent entity in the Ugandan jurisdiction.
However, Vantage’s lawyer Robert Kirunda successfully secured a court ruling that Bitature could be privately sued by Vantage to recover their loan.
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