Central Bank Pays Sudhir Shs227m Over Closed Forex Bureaus

By Max Patrick Ocaido

Bank of Uganda (BoU) has paid city businessman Sudhir Ruparelia Shs227m over closure of his forex bureaus following a ruling from the Commercial Court.

On December 19, 2018, Court in its partial consent judgment witnessed by Deputy BoU Governor Louis Kasekende ordered the Central Bank to pay the said monies to Sudhir after the closure of his four forex bureaus in 2017. The forex bureaus; Crane Forex Bureau (Speke Hotel), Crane Forex Bureau (Kampala Road), StanHope Forex Bureau De Change and Red Fox Bureau De Change were closed by the Central Bank by declining to renew their licenses for failure to meet required standards.

As a result, Ruparelia petitioned Court seeking for refund of the license fees that he had already paid for renewal of licenses. Court has ordered the Central Bank to pay Sudhir Shs90.1m for Crane Forex Bureau (Speke Hotel), Shs92.7m for StanHope Forex Bureau De Change, Shs90.9m for Red Fox Bureau De Change as well as renewal fees of Shs3m for each forex bureau.

“By consent of parties hereto, it’s hereby agreed that this suit be and it’s hereby partially settled as hereunder,” the consent judgment reads in part.

“The defendant (BoU) do release to the plaintiff (closed four forex bureaus belonging to Mr Ruparelia) within a period of 21 days from the date of sealing by court of this partial consent judgment the security deposits held by it,” the judgment reads. Apparently, BoU has already paid the money as ordered by Court.