According to a notice to the public by the Bank of Uganda (BOU) on Friday, Crane Bank Ltd (CBL) has been placed under liquidation and winding up of its affairs in the country.
The notice was titled “Liquidation and winding up of the affairs of Crane Bank Ltd under Section 99 (1) and (2) of the Financial Institutions Act, 2004.”
According to the notice, the Central Bank shall be the liquidator of Crane Bank, and all borrowers of CBL whose loans were transferred to DFCU Bank must continue to service their loan obligations with DFCU Bank Ltd.
This comes after Bank of Uganda took over ownership of Crane Bank from tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia on October 20th 2016 and subsequently progressed it into receivership on January 24th 2017.
However, lawyers of Crane Bank say the attempt to liquidate Crane Bank contravenes the Financial Intelligence Act, 2015 and that it will lead the regulator into another legal battle.
“The powers of the Central Bank in the management of commercial banks are spelt out in the Financial Intelligence Act. They are not arbitral. Any attempts to liquidate Crane Bank would be a violation of that Act,” one of the lawyers said.
The notice to the public, dated November 13th 2020, was undersigned by the Governor of the Bank of Uganda, Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile.
In what appears to be a paid influencing gig, several renown influencers on Twitter have today taken to the social media streets in protest of the decision by the Central Bank under the hashtag #BOUConspiracy.
