Entebbe Mayor Rulinda Vows to Appeal Court Ruling, Rejects M23 Allegations
ENTEBBE, Uganda – Entebbe Municipality Mayor Fabrice Rulinda has announced plans to appeal Monday’s High Court ruling that dismissed his case against Stanbic Bank Uganda, while strongly denying any links to the M23 rebel group operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Addressing journalists at the Entebbe Municipal Council offices on Tuesday alongside his legal team from Bluebell Legal Advocates, Mayor Rulinda described the court’s decision as setting a dangerous precedent for banking practices in Uganda.
“I was a client of Stanbic Bank in 2017, I had a transaction, and they took the money,” Rulinda said. “Today, what we are fighting against is, this opens up a precedent for this to happen to anybody. That a bank can decide and becomes the court, it can say this money came from witchcraft, this one here came from a bribe, this came from corruption.”
Background of the Case
On Monday, High Court’s Commercial Division Justice Stephen Mubiru dismissed the case Rulinda filed against Stanbic Bank Uganda, which alleged the bank breached its banking contract by reversing funds and freezing his account without consent or court order. The court awarded costs to the bank.
The judgement followed court findings that a suspicious transfer of $73,262.50 (approximately Shs270 million) to Rulinda’s account in 2017 could have been part of a financial arrangement linked to the M23 rebel group. According to court records, Rulinda allegedly admitted during investigations that he facilitated meetings between foreign gold buyers and individuals associated with the M23 movement.
The disputed funds were part of two larger transfers totaling more than $496,000 sent by Green Global Corporation to Rulinda’s dollar account within two days in August 2017. The account, which had previously handled relatively small amounts, subsequently saw large withdrawals including over $155,000 in cash, plus expenditures on travel and school fees.
Legal Team Challenges Judgement
Mr. Samuel Taremwa, one of Rulinda’s lawyers, highlighted what they consider a fundamental contradiction in the ruling.
“The bank debited his account and transferred the money back to the people who had credited him. In 2017, we did not have M23 rebels in the DRC as we know them today. My client is not involved at all with the M23 rebels,” Taremwa stated.
He further argued: “Our client is aggrieved in the sense that he lost money, the court has decided that the bank did wrong to debit his account without a court order. But the court has not meted out any consequence to the bank for what it did.”
Taremwa warned that without appeal, the decision could enable banks to freeze accounts arbitrarily by simply claiming funds were proceeds of crime.
M23 Narrative Dismissed as Distraction
Mayor Rulinda, who was not in office in 2017 when the transactions occurred, accused the bank of using sensationalism to avoid addressing the core legal issues.
“If Stanbic Bank really felt there was anything criminal that was done, they were not the courts to decide. They should have gone to court,” he asserted. “If they honestly believed there was an M23 involvement, is it now the banks that determine that? That’s why we have courts.”
Rulinda maintained that proper procedure would have been to freeze the funds with the Central Bank pending court determination, rather than unilaterally reversing the transaction.
Appeal Process Underway
Mr. Isaac Ssali Mugerwa confirmed that the legal team has formulated grounds for appeal and will formally notify court of their intentions in the coming days.
The case, which has been before the courts since 2017, centers on whether banks have the authority to reverse transactions and freeze accounts without court orders when suspicions arise about fund origins.
“We’ve given a blank check for anybody to do what they want with their institutions without regarding their fiduciary duties if we leave it this way,” Rulinda warned, emphasizing the broader implications for all bank customers in Uganda.
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