By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The High Court’s Criminal Division in Kampala has directed the initiation of a private criminal prosecution against businessman Patrick Bitature and his wife Carol Bitature on charges of fraud related to an outstanding loan from South African firm, Vantage Mezzanine Fund.
Our spies have established that the order ex-parte was swiftly obtained this month by prominent city lawyer Robert Kirunda, who is the agent of the South African based money lending company Vantage Mezzanine Fund II.
It is worth noting that in 2022, Kirunda received approval from Justice Stephen Mubiru, the Head of the Commercial Division of the High Court, to commence a Private Criminal Prosecution against Bitature and his wife for alleged fraud. Bitature’s lawyer, Fred Muwema, seeking a protection order from prosecution incurred costs for wasting court’s time.
Kirunda proceeded and filed Private Criminal Prosecution against the accused persons at Buganda Road Court but the charges were dropped by the trial magistrate which forced him to appeal to the higher court seeking the reinstatement of the charges.
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However, when Bitature learnt about it, he also applied to join the application noting that he is an affected person of the application and it was approved but he missed the date the application was called and Kirunda proceeded ex-parte and a ruling delivered in his favor.
Kirunda promptly obtained a Court Order, served it to Buganda Road Court Chief Magistrate, and is currently pursuing Criminal Summons against the accused.
According to sources, Bitature’s legal team was still attempting to secure an audience with the Principal Judge Dr. Flavian Zeija to prevent their client’s prosecution.
According to Kirunda, Bitature, along with others still evading capture, knowingly and with fraudulent intent, tampered with the shareholding of Simba Companies. They stand accused of making false statements and conspiring to defraud Vantage Capital and 20 other creditors.
Bitature’s companies allegedly received a $10 million loan from Vantage Capital, pledging their shares in Linda Properties Limited, Elgon Terrace Limited, Simba Properties Investments Co. Limited, and Simba Telecom Limited (Simba Companies) as collateral.
In 2023, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s cabinet and Parliament, led by Annet Anita Among, approved Bitature’s bailout of Shs 240.9 billion. This followed Bitature’s proposal to surrender his Electromax power plant to the government in exchange for financial assistance. The Auditor General, John Muwanga, opposed the deal, deeming it unfavorable to taxpayers.
Background Of This Matter
Simba Properties Investment Company Limited (SPIC) (as borrower) and Patrick Bitature (as guarantor and promotor) borrowed US$10,000,000 (Loan) from Vantage to refinance a portion of the Simba Groups’ existing debt and to fund the completion of Simba’s Skyz Hotel in 2014 which loan matured and fell due for repayment in December 2019.
But instead of making efforts to repay the loan, the Simba Group and Bitature changed gears and asked for legal paperwork for the company that borrowed him noting that the company isn’t legally registered in Uganda and therefore can’t carry out any business, let alone borrowing billions of money from it. This is when things stormed Courts of law.
