Tycoon Sudhir Secures Victory As Land Registry Invalidates Titles For 48 Dfcu Bank Branches”

By Gad Masereka

The Commissioner of Land Registration has invalidated Dfcu’s lease interests on 48 properties formerly housing Crane Bank branches, restoring ownership to tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia’s Meera Investments Ltd.

After Dfcu acquired Crane Bank in January 2017, Bank of Uganda facilitated the transfer of leases for the 48 properties, wrongly asserting they belonged to Crane Bank instead of Meera Investments.

Sudhir sought justice in court, and on October 24, the High Court ruled in his favor, directing the Commissioner of Land Registration to return the properties to their rightful owner.

In response to the ruling, the Commissioner of Land Registration, in a letter signed by Baker Mugaino and dated November 8, informed the Dfcu Managing Director that all entries on the register indicating Dfcu Bank as the proprietor of the 48 properties had been canceled.

The letter stated, “In view of the self-executing nature of the orders of the Court… this office proceeded and implemented the decree of the court… by rectifying the register and cancelling the leases… and further by cancelling all the entries on the register and white pages of Dfcu Bank Limited as proprietor of the 48 leasehold properties.”

The registrar also instructed Dfcu to return the duplicate certificates of title, as they are legally inconsequential.

Additionally, Dfcu is required to pay Meera Investments Shs2.4bn for the unlawful occupation of the properties.

This victory adds to Sudhir’s series of legal battles against Bank of Uganda and Dfcu since the takeover of his bank in 2016. Despite BoU’s claim that the bank was undercapitalized due to Sudhir’s alleged financial misconduct, the court exonerated Sudhir and accused BoU officials, including former Director Commercial Bank Supervision Justine Bagyenda and former Deputy Governor Louis Kasekende, of fraudulent activities in transferring the bank to Dfcu. Notably, most officials involved in the transfer are no longer with the Central Bank.