Bank of Africa dragged to court over fraud
Jul 18, 2017
The bank is accused of conniving with its clients to register a mortgage when they are not registered proprietors among other things
Captain Joseph Roy, a local businessman has dragged Bank of Africa to court on allegations that it fraudulently registered a mortgage using his certificate of title to approve sh2.5b without his consent.
"The defendant (Bank of Africa) registered the mortgage unlawfully and illegally with the sole intention of profiteering from the same," states Roy.
He says that after registering the mortgage in August 21, 2009, the bank kept it for nine years without verifying the authenticity of security and documents forwarded to it. The title in question is for his land located at Kyadondo block 243 plot 688 in Luzira.
Roy alleges that the bank falsified the loan application and all processes with the aim of targeting his title to secure the illegal mortgage.
He accuses it of conniving with its clients to register a mortgage when they are not registered proprietors, fraudulent appraisal of the security and documentation by falsification, failure to carry out due diligence before and after registering the land, allowing different borrowers to use the same security with less value and falsifying repayment of the said mortgage.
Roy wants a compensation for the alleged fraudulent and illegal entry on his land by way of special and general damages. He wants payment of sh200,000 as the cost of the search for the title, sh1m airtime and transport and sh633.6m as a 25% of the profits earned by the bank from the mortgage.
For general damages, he wants the bank to compensate him for its failure to remove the mortgage for over 9 years, inconvenience, frustration and mental torture, creation of poor credit rating of him and damages for unlawful use of his title.
Roy, who filed the case at the Commercial Court on July 17 through Omongole and Co. Advocates, wants court to declare that the bank's actions were tainted with fraud and that he is entitled to a compensation for the illegal actions.
Meanwhile, the bank has been given 15 days to file its defence without which the case will be heard in its absence.