Entebbe Municipality Mayor Fabrice Rulinda has announced plans to appeal a High Court Commercial Division ruling that dismissed his case against Stanbic Bank over the alleged unlawful handling of funds on his account.
The ruling, delivered by Stephen Mubiru, found that the bank acted within the law when it reversed $73,262.50 (about Shs 270 million) from Rulinda’s account.
The court also cited a suspicious transaction that it said could have been linked to the March 23 Movement operating in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Rulinda has strongly rejected both the court’s findings and any alleged association with the rebel group.
“I was a client of Stanbic Bank in 2017. I had a transaction, and they took the money. We are asking them, was that done properly?” he said.
He argued that the bank overstepped its mandate by making determinations on alleged criminality instead of referring the matter to competent authorities.
“If there was something criminal, it wasn’t for the bank to decide. That is the role of the courts or other competent authorities.”
Rulinda added that he is pursuing the matter in his personal capacity, noting that he was not a public official at the time.
“I was an ordinary client when this happened. I was Fabrice Rulinda, their client. I was not Mayor of Entebbe in 2017,” he said. “Money was taken from my account, and I will fight to get it back.”
He warned that the ruling could set a dangerous precedent if left unchallenged.
“This opens up a precedent for this to happen to anybody… that a bank can decide and become the court,” he said.
Rulinda maintains that if the bank had concerns about the source of the funds, it should have frozen the account and allowed investigations to proceed rather than reversing the money.
“What they could have done is freeze that money and let the courts determine who it belongs to,” he said, accusing the bank of shifting public attention away from the core legal issues.
“Now it has become about M23 and the Mayor of Entebbe instead of discussing the substance of the case.”
His legal team, led by Isaac Ssali Mugerwa and Samuel Taremwa, confirmed that preparations to file an appeal are underway.
Mugerwa argued that the bank acted unlawfully by debiting the account without a court order and returning the funds to the sender.
“The bank debited his account and transferred the money back to the people who had credited him… this is where we have a challenge with the judgment,” he said.
He also rejected the court’s attempt to link his client to the M23 rebels.
“My client is not involved at all with the M23 rebels. This matter was in respect to the accounts.”
Taremwa added that although the court acknowledged irregularities in the handling of the account, it failed to impose sanctions.
“If we do not appeal… it means anybody could lose money in a bank and the bank would justify it as proceeds of crime,” he said.
Court documents indicate that the disputed funds were part of two transfers totaling more than $496,000 sent by a company identified as Green Global Corporation in August 2017.
The bank flagged the transactions as suspicious due to the unusually large sums compared to the account’s prior activity.
Records also show that significant withdrawals followed shortly after, including large cash transactions and payments for travel and school fees.
The court further noted that Rulinda acknowledged facilitating meetings between foreign gold traders and individuals allegedly linked to the M23 movement, claims he continues to dispute as part of his appeal.
Efforts to obtain a comment from Stanbic Bank were unsuccessful. The bank’s Public Relations Office declined to comment and advised that a formal written inquiry be submitted. By the time of filing this story, no official response had been received.
