dfcu Bank has had a busy weekend countrywide — relocating 15 of its branches including Cranes Chambers, Arua and Entebbe centres from Meera Investment Properties.
At Kampala Road and Kikuubo in the city centre, dozens of labourers were seen carrying the bank’s belongings from the disputed premises onto trucks that transported them to new locations.
In a public notice seen by this website, dfcu claims the relocation isn’t the only thing that’s changed.
“As part of the implementation process of our digitisation agenda, we would like to inform our esteemed customers that the following branches will be relocated effective Monday 3rd February,” the public notice dated Friday January 31 reads.
We have reliably been informed that dfcu Bank which first downplayed the development last year will also exit more Meera Investment Properties in the coming days and “lay off part of their staffs”.
dfcu Bank last year asked Bank of Uganda to take back titles for the 48 properties that belong to Meera Investments Ltd of city tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia.
The dfcu Bank in October issued a statement denying the bank was shutting down 20 branches housed in the disputed Meera Investments Ltd buildings, but insisted that a review of the bank’s branch network was part of her digital strategy.
At the same time the website saw an internal procurement document that showed dfcu Bank was de-commissioning some of the branches housed in the properties under dispute as the legal battle between Sudhir and his companies against Bank of Uganda rages. dfcu Bank also downplayed this and declined to comment on the matter.
dfcu Bank controversially acquired Crane Bank Ltd in January 2017, after the Bank of Uganda put the former under statutory management and later closed, and sold it off.
As a result, the dfcu Bank has been caught up in the ensuing legal battle between the shareholders of Crane Bank Ltd led by city tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia and the central bank.
The bank was ordered to vacate the buildings owned by the former’s landlord Meera Investments Ltd after it emerged that the dfcu Bank was misled by city Law firm Sebalu & Lule Advocates to transfer title properties.
The law firm was last year banned from representing dfcu Bank in the disputed properties after being found guilty of conflict of interest.
Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile in the 2018/2019 annual report confirmed that dfcu Bank had indicated to the central bank that they will exit the properties in the wake of a legal suits, where city businessman has repeatedly defeated both the central bank and those conjoined in the decided court cases so far.
