Commercial Court Hearing for Ham – DTB Loan Case Set for Thursday

Hamis Kiggundu of Ham group of Companies

Kampala – The case to determine whether businessman Hamis Kiggundu of Ham Enterprises Ltd owes Diamond Trust Bank in excess of UGX39.7B is set for hearing Thursday, August 27, at the commercial division of the High Court of Uganda.

The same court had earlier in July vacated the requirement for the businessman to deposit 30% to clear his loan arrears to the bank after Ham filed an application for an injunction on the matter.

But already there was a main suit already pinning Hamis Kiggundu for defaulting on his loan payments to the bank.

The expeditious hearing and determination of the dispute shall present the Bank an opportunity to dispel the Plaintiffs’ allegations through an audit or reconciliation of accounts.

Based on this and the fact that the bank wanted the main suit heard which is why Hamis sued the bank, on 3rd August 2020 in HCMA No. 531 of 2020 and a concession was made by the Bank to maintain the status quo and to forego all the Miscellaneous Applications springing from the Plaintiffs’ challenge of the condition to deposit 30% of the outstanding sum in favour of an expeditious hearing and determination of the main suit ( HCCS No. 43 of 2020).

The Parties were directed to file their respective trial bundles yesterday and a Joint Scheduling Memorandum and the suit was fixed for scheduling inter-parties on August 26 2020 at 11.00am.

According to the lead counsel for DTB Bank Kiwanuka Kiryowa, between February 2011 and September 2016, Kiggundu acquired the loan in four tranches of USD6.2M (approximately Ushs22.3b), USD3.2M (approximately Ushs11.5b), USD4586 (approximately Ushs1.6b) and Ushs2.8B, and the loan was consolidated in later in 2018 and to run for five years ending on 23rd August 2023, and according to the agreement, the bank would recover the money by deducting 30% of the tycoon’s deposits in the bank in the five year period.

Relatedly, the Uganda Bankers’ Association last week, in response to an opinion by Kiggundu in one of the local dailies, quashed the businessman’s call for a loan review policy in the banking sector, and said that the former was just a bad debtor “Citizens with a poor or unfavourable credit record coupled with maligning a sector especially when in default, works against the growth of the credit environment and never ever improves the position of the borrowers,” a statement from the Uganda Bankers’ Association Executive DirectorWilbrod Humprey Owor, read in part.

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Brian Musaasizi | Editor