Exiled Rwandan businessman Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa has won a court battle against the government of Rwanda at the regional court of justice in relation to the illegal seizure of his property back home.
Rujugiro through UTC mall as an applicant sued the government of Rwanda through the Attorney General as a respondent in the East African Court of Justice over the unlawful seizure of his property and assets.
Rwanda government auctioned the US$20 million Union Trade Centre (UTC), located at the city of Kigali, Rwanda. UTC was sold for a mere US$8 million at the auction.
UTC was founded in 2006, and turned it into a successful shopping mall that hosted over 80 businesses.
Also his shares in Nshili Kivu Tea Factory were taken over by Nyaruguru District authorities after the Commission for Abandoned Properties resolved it was poorly managed and so wanted to manage the shares on Mr Rujugiro’s behalf.
UTC is neither the first nor the last to be sold by Rwandan government driven by irrational hatred of those who fall out with it.
However, Rujiro maintains that his properties have never lacked someone to manage them and his case was filed in EACJ under reference number 10 of 2013 by Union Trade Centre (UTC).
The three justices of the East African Court of Justice led by Principal Judge Justice Monica Mugenyi in their judgment delivered yesterday declared that the respondent’s action of taking over UTC mall and subsequently selling it off are illegal and unlawful.
The government of Rwanda has also been directed by court to furnish the applicant with accountability for the rental and sale proceeds realized from UTC mall between October 1st 2013 to 27th September 2017.
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Compansansion in general has been awarded to the applicant in the sum of USD 500,000 with a simple interest of 6% per annum against the compensation designated from the date of judgment until full payments. The applicant has also been awarded with court costs.
Rujugiro has businesses in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, South Africa, Angola, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, where he is currently based after fleeing Rwanda in 2009.