Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) will be paid $3.5m (sh6.2b) by Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) Uganda after winning a three-year legal battle.
SGS will pay the sh6.2b as damages arising out of a claim by HSBC that SGS issued false verification certificates of coffee stock assessment reports.
The reports were for HSBC’s debtor, H.M. Nsamba and Sons, who had a $7.9m (sh14b) debt.
HSBC also claimed that it was unable to recover the loan (plus interest) and incurred legal and other costs worth $900,000 (sh1.6b).
The reports were issued from March 1999 to June 2000.
The Principal Judge, Justice James Ogoola, endorsed the settlement.
The settlement was witnessed by Timothy Masembe-Kanyerezi and Rachel Musoke, HSBC’s lawyers, while Kiryowa-Kiwanuka and Edwin Karugire represented SGS.
London-based HSBC is one of the largest banks in the UK and biggest banking groups in the world.
SGS is an international inspection, verification and certification company.
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UK’s HSBC bank to be paid $3m
