Originally Syndicated on April 25, 2023 @ 10:52 am
The brother of Ham Kiggundu, Haruna Sentongo, has been ordered by the High Court of Kampala to reimburse Orient Bank for interest accrued on loans provided to him totaling more than 10 billion Shillings.
The Commercial Division judge Richard Wejuli Wabwire’s ruling ruled that Haruna Sentongo had actually taken out the debts he was trying to prevent repaying back by suing. Sentongo rushed to court in 2018 to get orders to halt Orient Bank’s request to pay close to 10 billion shillings at the time.
About Haruna Sentongo
On November 30, 1987, Haruna Sentongo was born in Kalungu, a settlement in the broader Masaka area in central Uganda. He is the child of hajji Haruna Segawa and Nakayija Jalia, who are owners of a large number of real estate holdings in Kampala.
About his career –
Haruna completed his elementary education in Masaka, his O-level coursework at Kabojja International School in Kampala, and his A-level coursework at East High School in Ntinda. He studied at Makerere University, where he received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree. Therefore, he is a businessman, Entrepreneur, and a Real Estate Developer
In 2015, Haruna Sentongo, according to court records, received a series of loans from Orient Bank to fund the construction of Kampala’s Nakayiza Mall. To support his imported clothing company, he also applied for many loans. In order to construct Segawa Market in Kampala as well, he also requested an extra $ 3 million.
Haruna Sentongo, however, claimed in his court documents that Orient Bank acquired him financing with extremely unfair, unconscionable, inadequate, extortionate, and unclear terms and conditions with the intention of unjustly enhancing itself at its cost. He also claimed that Orient Bank acted fraudulently, under pressure, with undue influence, under poor guidance, and with complete fraud. In addition, he alleges that the bank routinely violated its legally binding and fiduciary responsibilities to him by making erroneous and phony transactions on his account, thereby complicating his job performance and exposing him to excessive financial risk exposure, psychological torture, mental anguish, and torment.
Sentongo requested that the court grant him special damages for the loss of his company and rental revenue of 500,000,000 Shillings each month beginning in February 2016.
Orient Bank filed a new lawsuit against Haruna Sentongoto
The following year, Orient Bank filed a new lawsuit against Haruna Sentongoto demanding repayment of a loan it had provided to him in the amount of over 10 billion shillings. In court documents, Orient Bank stated that it had provided Sentongo with numerous loans since May 2015, but that he had failed on them. The bank mentioned a number of credit arrangements it had made to Sentongo at a total of 9.695 billion shillings, which had since increased to 10.384 billion shillings due to its bankruptcy.
In addition, the Bank requested that the court award it general compensation in the sum of 2 billion for the harm Haruna Sentongo’s lawsuit brought to its image. Because they all raised similar concerns and requested identical prayers, the two actions were merged during the proceedings and decided simultaneously.
Wabwire determined in his decision that Haruna Sentongo had in fact requested and successfully received the previously mentioned loans and could not now turn back and dispute paying. “Since the petitioner has confessed that he got substantial quantities of money from the mortgages themselves, he is ineligible to now seek to have them declared unconstitutional.
He is unable to approve or reject. Wabwire’s settlement states in part, “He is restrained by the concept of approval and reprobation, which prevents one from recognizing that a transaction is valid and thereby obtaining some advantages to which he could only be entitled on the footing that it is valid and then turning around and saying it is invalidated for the reason of secure another benefit.
More Details on the Case Against Haruna Sentongoto
Even the claim that the bank perpetrated deception by charging Haruna Sentongo more money than he actually received lacks substantiation, it continues.
The Facility offer letters and mortgages are lawful, legally binding agreements between the parties that can be enforced if there is no proof of any criminal activity that could have supported the transaction. The plaintiff and defendant’s contracts are legitimate and enforceable in accordance with the law, the court decides. Therefore, there is no proof to back up the charges of falsification in the current instance. According to the verdict, the plaintiff failed to show any proof of coercion or excessive conditions.
The judge further noted that Sentongo’s threat to have his real estate publicly auctioned if he did not pay or have it sold to repay the unpaid loan did not constitute force or pressure but rather was a reasonable economic demand, which is not illegal in and of themselves.
Justice Wabwire further criticized Sentongo’s claims that the loans given to him lacked adequate accompanying contracts as being deceitful. He said that every piece of proof presented to the court had numerous loan offer letters that Haruna Sentongo and the lender had officially signed. “I am certain that the interest charged was in line with the facilities’ pre-agreed conditions.
The defendant had a right to the compensation it received and the interest it was charged. Considering the unfair enrichment concept and the legislation. I think the assertion is unsupportable and unjustified. With the Defendant Bank, Plaintiff engaged into a number of credit arrangements. The agreement for the aforementioned facilities stated that the plaintiff would pay them back with interest.
The Bottom Line
However, Plaintiff failed to fulfill this duty and now owes the Bank money for loans that were made but not paid back. Haruna Sentongo was required to pay the bank the 10.384 billion shillings in debt that he owed as well as 150 million shillings for overall compensation. The judge granted the bank not just the court costs but also a 22 percent interest rate on both sums from the date of the verdict until Sentongo pays complete restitution.
