For Dr Sudhir Ruparelia, the battle over Crane Bank is no longer simply about recovering hundreds of millions of dollars.
It is about sending a message.
Nearly a decade after the Bank of Uganda took over Crane Bank, Uganda’s richest man is heading into a major London court battle determined, he says, to ensure that regulators and powerful institutions think twice before carrying out a similar action.
“This case is about more than just the lost funds. The Bank of Uganda and other institutions involved must think twice before attempting anything like this again,” Sudhir told Norwegian publication Panorama News ahead of proceedings expected to begin Monday.
Crane Bank and its former shareholders are seeking more than £300 million in damages from companies and individuals linked to the subsequent takeover of the bank’s operations. The defendants dispute the allegations and are expected to vigorously contest the case.
Crane Bank was placed under Bank of Uganda management in October 2016 before its assets and liabilities were transferred to dfcu Bank in January 2017.
The Ruparelia family has spent much of the decade since challenging what happened.
Now, that fight has moved to London. On top of Dutch defendants Rabobank is the Norwegian company Norfinance, which is partly owned by the state-owned Norfund. The trial begins Monday in London.
At the centre of the case are allegations that the process through which Crane Bank was taken over and its business transferred was unlawful. The claimants argue that parties involved in the transaction ignored warning signs surrounding the circumstances in which the bank became available for acquisition.
The defendants reject those allegations. But for Sudhir, who has since continued building his other interests in real estate, hospitality, education and other sectors, the size of the compensation claim does not fully explain why he has pursued the dispute for so long.
His bigger concern, he says, is accountability. He also wants the case to serve as a warning to international development finance institutions investing in Africa that their involvement comes with a responsibility to scrutinise the transactions they enter.
“Foreign development funds that invest in Africa should not get involved in criminal activity,” he told Panorama News.
The London proceedings could run for several months and examine years of decisions surrounding Crane Bank’s collapse and eventual transfer.
After 10 years of litigation, Sudhir is not presenting the case merely as a fight to recover a lost fortune.
He wants it to leave a lesson: institutions entrusted with power must know that their decisions can ultimately be challenged — however long it takes.
