Sudhir ordered to surrender phone in UK Crane bank case against dfcu
In a procedural win for dfcu bank, Ugandan property mogul Sudhir Ruparelia has been ordered by the High Court of England to surrender his mobile phone for expert forensic analysis in an ongoing legal battle involving Crane Bank Limited (CBL) and dfcu bank.
In the same ruling, the court also directed Sheena Ruparelia, wife to Jay Sakaria, the chief actuary at GoldStar Insurance Co. Ltd, to disclose materials from her personal email. The directive follows observations by Justice Paul Stanley, who noted that reports prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd (PwC) spanning over 150 pages and covering events dating back to the early 2000s raise serious concerns about the management of Crane bank.
The reports point to alleged mismanagement, including the creation of a deliberately false impression on the bank’s balance sheet, concealment of shareholder identities, diversion of bank funds, and sweetheart deals with insiders.
Crane Bank’s legal team had argued that PwC, which was commissioned by Bank of Uganda to carry out a forensic audit of Crane Bank, was not part of the globally recognized PwC network; and the PwC reports were inadmissible in court as evidence of any primary facts.
However, the court rejected both claims, clearing the way for PwC’s findings to be considered in the case. In a statement, dfcu says it has consistently maintained that the allegations against it are baseless, reiterating that it acted lawfully throughout the acquisition process of Crane Bank Limited.
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