Tirupati Development Uganda Limited has dragged Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and its Uganda Branch to court accusing them of breaching a contract which was signed in the process of seeking a loan.
According to the Documents filed before High Court Civil Division in Kampala, in July 2012, KCB Bank Kenya (3rd Defendant) and its counterpart KCB Uganda (2nd Defendant) agreed to offer Tirupati (Plaintiff) a syndicated loan totaling to shillings 24.6 billion ($7 million) which was never fulfilled.
The Plaintiff contends that the sister banks disbursed only $ 6.99 million and promised to deliver the remaining balance, which was to be effected in September 2014. “While the Defendants had agreed to disburse a total sum of USD 7,000,000, the total sum disbursed was in fact US$ 6,990,000 was in fact disbursed. The 2nd and 3rd Defendants agreed to charge the Plaintiff’s loan negotiation fees in the sum of 0.5% of the loan amount which amounted to US $35,000.”
The plaintiff also stated that both KCB Kenya and Uganda breached their agreement when they failed to disburse the total agreed amount of USD 7,000,000 on top of debiting their account with loan negotiation fees above the agreed amount.
Tirupati also contends that the same banks committed fraud when they failed to respond on the number of irregularities concerning a number of bank accounts which were brought to their attention.
“The 2nd Defendant’s refusal to give the Plaintiff records of bank statements of her current and loan account statements, a failure which was inhibiting the Plaintiff’s ability to understand the true extent of her debt,” the documents further indicate.
Tirupati has therefore asked court to declare that actions of KCB amounted to breach of contract, fraud and failure to manage the plaintiff’s accounts, also to issue an order to the Financial Intelligence Authority (4th Defendant) to tender in court definitive set of measures it will deploy to ensure that there is no further suspicious or laundering activity going on through the Plaintiff’s accounts or at all.
They have also asked court to order the defendants to pay General damages, Aggravated damages and costs for the suit.