By Spy Uganda
Word coming in from our sources is that city moguls Dr Sudhir Ruparelia and Godfrey Kirumira, who were stakeholders in Crane Bank before it was closed by Bank of Uganda and sold to dfcu Bank, are no longer at logger heads,atleast by the look of last night’s gesture.
It should be noted that Dr Sudhir was recently appointed Honorary Consul of Nepal to Uganda by president Bidhya Devi Bhandari.
As a result of that appointment, on Tuesday March 17, 2020, H.E Dr Sudhir Ruparelia handed his credentials to Foreign Affairs minister Hon. Sam Kutesa, before he officially started his duties.
In order to celebrate the achievement, H.E Sudhir invited several of his longtime friends to a cocktail dinner which was held at Kabira Country Club, during which they congratulated him.
Among other big shots who attended the function was TheSpy Uganda Chief Executive Officer Andrew Irumba Katusabe, who shared a few business ideas with the tycoon Sudhir during their brief interaction, tycoon Godon Wavamuno, controversial Frank Gashumba, tourism minister Godfrey Kiwanda Suubi, internal affairs minister Okello Oriem among other distinguished key figures.
But our sources reveal that among the Special Guests at the function was Kirumira, who was Sudhir’s close confidant and friend before the Crane Bank saga. Those were the days of Kwagalana Group.
However, when the saga broke out and later Bank of Uganda sued Sudhir, Kirumira and others for allegedly siphoning Shs397Bn from Crane Bank before its closure, Kirumira and family distanced themselves from all Sudhir’s woes. “It was an amazing thing to see tycoon Kirumira coming to celebrate with Sudhir, if you know you know,” a journalist was heard whispering to a friend as they stood together and started chatting .
But Sudhir went ahead and won the case that had been filed by BoU on behalf of Crane Bank, after justice David Wangutsi of the High Court Commercial Division ruled that BoU erred in the closure and sale of Crane Bank to dfcu Bank and consequently erred in suing Dr Sudhir, Kirumira, Jitendra Sanghani, Rasiklal Chhotalal Kantaria, and Mohammed Ali.
The judge dismissed the case with legal costs and compensation worth over Shs100Bn.
Dr Sudhir also later repossessed buildings he owned under Meera Investments but had leased to Crane Bank, which dfcu Bank had illegally grabbed after buying Crane Bank from BoU in a shady deal.
A few years after the storm has withered, Kirumira is back in action with Sudhir and the two are said to be back in business!
