Someone tried to bribe me - Principal Judge on DTB vs Ham case
The Principal Judge, Dr.Flavian Zeija has said one of the parties in the shs120 billion DTB vs Ham Enterprises cases tried to influence his decision by bribing him.
“I was flabbergasted by one of the parties sending emissaries to me with financial proposals in order to influence my decision. This is disgusting, to say the least,”Zeija said on Monday morning as he read a ruling in which he stopped the payment of shs120 billion to Ham Enterprises by DTB.
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Following an order by the Commercial Division of the High Court in Kampala in which DTB was directed to refund shs120 billion allegedly deducted from Ham Enterprises’ bank account and also return the security given by the company to the bank for a loan, DTB filed an application seeking to have the ordered halted until their appeal is disposed of.
On Monday, Justice Zeija granted the application and ordered the execution of the earlier order by the Commercial Court halted.
“This decision has far-reaching implications on the banking industry as far as it declares syndicated loans illegal. This calls for maintenance of the status quo to enable the court of appeal to inquire into this illegality (syndicated loans) and either uphold the finding or reverse it,” Zeija ruled on Monday morning.
“There is serious or imminent threat of execution of the order and if the application is not granted, the appeal would be rendered nugatory. If the mortgages(security) are released (by DTB), it presents a high risk as these titled can be transferred and defeats the only security the applicants (DTB) have against the respondents (Ham).”
According to their appeal, DTB represented by a team of lawyers led by Kiryowa Kiwanuka argues that they were not given a fair hearing by the Commercial Court before giving its judgement that ordered that the bank refund shs120 billion to Ham Enterprises.
DTB also avers that the order by the Commercial Court will have far-reaching implications on the baking industry in Uganda.
“The judgment nullified all syndicated loans and lending by foreign financiers to Ugandan borrowers which losses will run in trillions of shillings with the attendant damage to the economy of Uganda by blocking foreign lending to the Ugandan enterprise,” DTB argues.
