City architect Peter Kamya, who is the rightful proprietor of Simbamanyo Estates, has won the land case he had filed against the imposters who claimed that the land he was to sell to the Eritreans, did not belong him.
These surrogates were set up by the Eritreans and Equity bank to embarrass Kamya and reinforce their claim that Kamya had staked to sell land that did not belong to him and therefore, was not in position to deliver a clean title.
These surrogates submitted the sale agreement between Kamya and the Eritreans as evidence that he, Kamya, stood to gain Shs5.5 billion, the proceeds of sale from land that did not belong to him. This is one of the major reasons Justice David Wangutsi used to rule against Kamya, that he purported to sell land that did not belong to him.
This was one of the scams Equity Bank came up with, to balance their books at the expense/detriment of their customer, Kamya, who owned Simbamnayo estates Ltd that had a loan with them.
They persuaded Kamya to sell his land at Munyonyo and use the proceeds to clear the accumulated arrears and also reduce the outstanding loan balance.
Equity Bank subsequently brokered a deal with some Eritrean investors, the Bahamas Group, to buy the land for Shs5.5 billion
Equity bank purportedly offered the Eritreans a loan to buy the land and the Eritreans were requested to put down a deposit equivalent to 40% i.e Shs 1.3 billion.
The Bahamas Group paid the bank to clear the accumulated arrears. But unfortunately, when Equity bank received the deposit, they negated on the purported loan and left Arc Kamya and the Eritreans in a lurch. To fight it out in court as to who was to blame for the frustration of the sale while they, Equity Bank, looked on because they had never signed anything either with Kamya or the Eritreans!
There was no loan from Equity Bank; this was just a ruse and to prove that there was no loan from the Bank, the Eritreans approached Kamya and told him that the Equity Bank loan was not forthcoming. In fact, there had never been any loan. Equity Bank just wanted to balance their books.
Following the legal battle that dragged on for several years, Kamya has emerged victorious after court ruled in his favor in regards to the Munyonyo land,
Now Justice Eudes Kaiterima of the Land Division of the High Court has given a lengthy ruling, wherein he declares Kamya the rightful owner of the side land.
Using this ruling Kamya is to appeal Justice Wangutusi irregular judgment.
In his ruling dated August 07, 2021, High Court Justice Hon. John Eudes keitirima ruled thus;
“The Plaintiff is the legal and rightful owner of the suit land comprising Kyadondo Block 255 Plot 126 Munyonyo.”
He also ruled that; “The 1st and 2nd Defendants are trespassers thereon.”
Justice Keitirima thus issued a permanent order against the 1st and 2nd Defendants barring them from trespassing on the same property.
Court thereafter awarded Kamya Shs 50,000,000 as general damages against the defendants and awarded the plaintiff costs of the suit and dismissed the counterclaim on the suit with costs to the counter defendant.
It should be remembered that last year Equity Bank auctioned Kamya’s properties that include Simbamanyo House and Afrique Hotel Suits to Sudhir Ruparelia’s Meera Investments LTD and Ronald Luwangula’s Luwaluwa Investments LTD respectively, claiming to recover a loan that had accumulated to USD10.8M (Shs40Bn) which he had secured from the bank in November 2017, although the sale was executed under illegal and fraudulent circumstances.
Besides contesting the outstanding loan balance of Shs12Bn that resulted in the auction, Simbamanyo asserts that the manner in which his properties were sold to Sudhir and Luwangula was marred with sheer fraud and malice and ill-intent, because the bank never consulted or gave him an opportunity to look for buyers offering the most attracting prices for the property.
Many people are asking why did the bank not allow Kamya to sell at least one of the buildings by private treaty, because the proceeds of this sale would have paid off the loan, without having to sell both properties.
As if that was not enough, to date, Equity Bank has never actually declared the exact amount they received from the auctioning to Kamya or declare if there were any balance from the proceeds, but claim there is still some outstanding balance, yet it is a plot they are said to be hatching such that they can go after his remaining properties.
Recently President Museveni developed interest in this matter after City Architect Peter Kamya and Dr. Margaret Muganwa Kamya petitioned him for his direct intervention in the fraudulent sale of their properties.
In his letter dated September 3rd, 2021, the President directed the Governor of Bank Of Uganda Tumusiime Mutebile to investigate why Equity Bank conducted a foreclosure of the mortgaged properties during COVID -19 pandemic, and also why they never allowed the owners to sell their properties by private treaty and therefore be in a position to fetch higher prices as opposed to the very low prices they received from Meera Investments.
President Museveni directed the Governor to investigate this matter expeditiously and give his report within one week.
Furthermore President Museveni wrote to the Attorney General directing him to investigate whether the properties were sold when there were cases pending in court and give his legal opinion within one week.
Most Ugandans have overwhelmingly welcomed the President’s intervention, except the Mafia and those in their pockets who have tried to muddy the waters by claiming that the President has no power to intervene in the matter yet he has the interest of protecting local investors. We say Bravo Mr. President!!!