A city lawyer and property mogul has accused NCBA Uganda of trying to defraud him of value by selling his prime property in Kampala by employing underhand methods

Deox Tibeingana, also a property developer, accuses NCBA Bank Uganda of trying to sell off his property by maliciously advertising the same.  He says that in doing so, they are trying to actualize a fraud.

On Monday, September 25, 2023, the bank advertised the lawyer’s property in Mbuya for sale in the Daily Monitor, with a call to the occupants to vacate. He attached a letter from the bank granting him 30 days extension from 16th September 2023 but even before the lapse of the days given, the bank was advertising. This obviously means his efforts are now useless.

For Tibeingana, it raised a red flag.

“They put up a notice for ‘occupants’ to vacate property knowing that I voluntarily vacated the property under the false presumption that they (the bank) would respect common sense and sell the property by private treaty,” he says.

Tibeingana reveals that by going ahead to advertise, NCBA bank was cementing its reputation as a financial institution that thrives on other people’s misfortune.

Tibeingana, who had a financial obligation with the bank, said he approached the bank, when it was still being headed by Mr. Anthony Ndegwa, with proposals on how he could pay part of the loan to a tune of UGX 1 billion.  However, they were unrelenting and he flew to Nairobi at the bank’s head office where he got positive feedback.

“In Nairobi, they accepted my proposal to sell off the Estates in Kireka to pay off the principal. However, what followed was the most unprofessional and childish display of personal vendetta from the bank. They said that since I had gone to Nairobi, they would frustrate me and refused to accept an immediate part payment of UGX 670m insisting I must pay UGX 1 billion in one lumpsum,” he says.

Part of lawyer Tibeingana’s letter to NCBA

According to Tibeingana, it went on for one year with interest accumulating at 36%. Eventually, after frustrating me, the Managing Director called to say he was going to sell off the property in piece meal and had buyers. They became the brokers for my properties and were negotiating with clients to pay them inducements on the side and sold all the property that way.

Tibeingana also accuses the then MD of meeting up with his (Tibeingana’s) business rival, a notable loan shark, at a Golf Course Hotel, and devising means to frustrate him.

“I engaged lawyers (Kyazze & Kyankaka advocates), after I got wind of the MD’s meeting with the loan shark. They put it to him that since I had constructed the apartments and had shown steps to create value and pay the bank, their scheme was bound to fail,” he says.

He recalls that in 2020, he requested the bank to release to its lawyers the land title for plot 8A Mbuya Road so he could create condominium titles to sell the houses he had constructed and pay the bank.  They refused his request for 6 months while his account ran on penal interest.

According to Tibeingana, the bank eventually relented but he had to first raise 10% of the agreed sum before he could get the title. After depositing UGX 250M, the title was released and the condos created.  “I was able to pay the bank UGX2.5Billion in 30 days after selling 5 of the 43 condos that were created.  Upon payment of these monies, It was another battle to get my titles released as management was “too busy” to sign all the 38 mortgage releases,” he narrates.

Tibeingana recalls that on two separate occasions, officials from the bank approached him proposing a gentleman’s agreement to sign sham mortgage documents of UGX 3.88bn and UGX 3.97bn in a period of 3 days to fool BOU auditors. He further narrates that “…I was shocked to later learn that these too had been registered against my properties as legal charges. It was against that fact that I filed a suit to challenge the thuggery of the bank,” he says.

He reveals that out of the UGX3.5b lent to him by the bank, he has so far paid back more than UGX7.5b, but the bank now claims they are still demanding UGX 1.6bn.

“We reached an agreement and I vacated the building so that the bank could tour prospective buyers after they declined my offer to participate in disposal of the property. Hardly a week has passed and the bank is keeping with its culture of advertising a property under a mortgage Act, whereas the agreement was a gentleman’s deed to sell under the insolvency act by all players,” he says.

By Grapevine Reporter

Professor Samuel Sejjaaka, the chairman Board of Directors Nation Media Group (NGM), the publishers of Daily monitor newspaper revealed that the search for the company’s Managing Director has kicked off after Tony Glencross tendered in his early retirement prayer and it was allowed.

In the Statement, Sejjaaka stated that effective from 31^st December, 2023, Glencross will be officially retiring and as per now, the board is undertaking a competitive recruitment process to identify a suitable replacement.

South African born Glencross joined Monitor Publication in 2015 and has spearheaded its transformation from print media company to a multimedia company.

Highly placed sources at Nation Media told theGrapevine that politics and the bad economy forced Glenscross, a former Commercial Officer at Vission Group, to retire. A source said that the company has failed to recover from the economic shock that many companies are currently suffering from as a result of the Covid-19 long lockdowns and the Russia-Ukraine war.

The monitor paper circulation has since declined because the pockets of most readers are yawning due to the bad economy.

There is also the issue of bad politics. Insiders allege that Glencross has been working under pressure especially from top government officials who are always attacking the company for working against the government.

On several occasions, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni declared Monitor a ‘bad paper’ to the extent of suing the publication over defamation.

In Monitor’s legal battle with Museveni, Justice Musa Ssekaana of the Civil Division of the High Court ordered them to pay Shs300m as damages to the President.

Museveni always alleges that Monitor publication is working for bad foreign agents.

A source at Monitor further revealed that the newspaper’s private advertisement has dropped yet government is also taking long to pay for their adverts.

Glencross’ early retirement comes days after New Vision Managing Director Don Wanyama warned the company’s current and prospective shareholders of an impending loss for the year 2022/2023.

Wanyama based his announcement on the “preliminary assessment” of the company’s performance by the Board of Directors, which is expected to return a loss for the year.

He explained that the company’s bad performance is as a result of the recent price hikes of inputs like; newsprint and other raw material inputs resulting from global supply chain disruptions.

He added that the company’s revenues are dominated by printing which accounts for almost half, followed by broadcasting (radio and television) outlets, commercial printing and others.

“The main contributor to this performance is the challenging business environment due to slow business recovery from the COVID-19 impact on newspaper sales and advertising revenue spent across the different platforms,”  Wanyama stated.

Highly placed sources at both Monitor and New Vision intimated to theGrapevine that plans are underway to cut on the number of staff and costs of operations.

By Sengooba Alirabaki

City businessman Haruna Sentongo has suffered a setback in the legal battle to save his multimillion empire which is under threat of being auctioned by I&M Bank formerly Orient bank over a Shs10bn debt.

Justice Harriet Grace Magala of the Commercial Division of the High Court dismissed with cost the application filed by Sentongo seeking a court order staying taxation proceedings against him until the determination of his appeal at the Court of Appeal.

In his affidavit, Sentongo challenged the proceedings of taxation against him explaining that he challenged the order for payment of costs in his Appeal and he has secured the interim order staying the execution of the orders of the lower court.

He accused the bank of abusing the court process by filing the bill of costs which will irremediably prejudice to his appeal.

He pleaded with court to exercise its inherent powers to stay the execution proceedings of the bank’s bill of costs because if it is allowed, it is going to be a  pivotal ground on his appeal and render the appeal nugatory and academic.

The bank protested the application through the affidavit in reply deposed by Cheguvera Mushemeza, the Legal Officer of the bank, stating that the application for stay of execution is an abuse of court process.

Mushemeza explained to the court that the court of appeal granted Sentongo a conditional stay but he failed to comply with it. He added that the court of appeal issued an interim injunction against the sale of the mortgaged property and an interim stay of execution of the Decree.

He explained that the Court partially allowed the application but declined to grant a stay of execution and it is the ground they based on to file and serve their bill of costs in the consolidated suits which was scheduled for taxation on the 7th June 2023.

He stated that prior to the taxation hearing date, Sentongo was invited for a pre- taxation hearing on the 5th June 2023 but he either declined or failed to attend.

In her ruling over the matter, Justice Magala explained that her court cannot entertain Sentongo’s application because he is in contempt of the court order issued against him.

“The applicant therefore came to court with unclean hands. For that reason, the court cannot exercise its judicial discretion in the Applicant’s favor unless he has purged himself of the contempt. In the result, this Application is dismissed with costs to the Respondent,” Justice Magala ruled.

Sentongo is challenging the decision by the Commercial Division of the High Court which dismissed his case challenging the bank’s action to auction his commercial property known as Segawa Market, on land situated on Kibuga Block 12 Plots 250 and 251, Kisenyi Kampala city over Shs10bn debt.

Court records indicate that in 2015, Sentongo approached the bank for a financial facility for completion of the commercial blocks for Segawa Market which was to be rented out to tenants to derive rental income.

Both parties executed a facility letter dated 22^nd February, 2016, for a Loan of Shs5bn and it was agreed that the facility would only be serviced through rent collections from the market if the bank funded the development.

Sentongo claims that the bank breached the facility contract by failing to disburse the agreed sums of monies.

Court documents show that Sentongo told the Commercial Division of the High Court that the ban would purport to credit his bank account, and synonymously liquidate the loan, paying itself back immediately with the sums credited, and the sums it would repay itself were always reflected as “Loan amounts recovered”.

The bank on the other hand, according to court documents claimed that between February to October 2016, Sentongo was granted several loan facilities and at his request, they were consolidated into one term loan with a single monthly instalment amortized for a period of five years.

He however, failed to meet his loan repayment obligations consequent upon which the bank issued him two notices of default.

The bank further claimed that when they started the process of recovering their sum of Shs10bn, Sentongo decided to institute a lawsuit and was defeated at the High Court. He appealed at the higher court.

By Grapevine Reporters