Ugandan Billionaire Sudhir Ruparelia is going to war in a London court, launching a staggering €200 million (Shs 820 billion) lawsuit against Dutch financial powerhouse Rabobank and two of its former top executives. In what is turning into the ultimate financial thriller, Ruparelia claims his life’s work was ripped away from him in a “corrupt scheme” orchestrated by the Bank of Uganda and executed with the help of international investors who swooped in to profit from the carcass of Crane Bank.
With the high-stakes UK trial kicking off this Monday, the gloves are completely off. Armed with a massive cache of leaked internal emails, secret presentations, and confidential documents, Ruparelia’s legal team at Greenberg Traurig is prepared to expose what they allege was an under-the-table deal structured on bribery and lawbreaking.
The core of the bombshell lawsuit alleges that Crane Bank wasn’t just sold—it was practically given away.
Ruparelia claims that former Rabobank executives Albert Jonkergouw and Willem Cramer—who sat on the board of dfcu Bank (the entity that bought Crane Bank)—approved the deal despite receiving an email warning that $27.5 million from the sale would go directly to the central bank without being recorded. He explicitly characterises this payment as bribery.
The lawsuit alleges that dfcu Bank was promised the acquisition at a price well below market value before Crane Bank was even placed under statutory management, bypassing standard independent valuation laws.
To back up his claims of a corrupt ecosystem, Ruparelia is pointing to the US federal conviction of Hong Kong intermediary Patrick Ho, who was jailed for bribing Uganda’s former foreign minister. The claimants assert Ho was acting for a Chinese conglomerate that was originally offered Crane Bank by the central bank before dfcu entered the picture.
This isn’t just one disgruntled tycoon’s theory. In 2019, a parliamentary inquiry by Uganda’s COSASE heavily criticized the central bank’s handling of the 2017 takeover, concluding that the Bank of Uganda broke the law on multiple fronts.
While Rabobank, dfcu, and the implicated executives are hiding behind a wall of “no comment” as the trial begins, Ruparelia reveals he has already burned through “tens of millions of dollars” in legal fees to fight this case across multiple continents. Backed by elite global law firms on both sides—including Freshfields, A&O Shearman, and Milbank—this London showdown promises to pull back the curtain on how global banking titans interact with African regulators when hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line.
Ugandan billionaire Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia has acquired Old Mutual’s historic property on Kimathi Avenue (historically known as the UAP Insurance Building)
The landmark deal, finalized through the Ruparelia Group’s real estate arm, Meera Investments Limited, sees the strategic Central Business District asset change hands for an undisclosed sum as Anglo-South African financial services giant Old Mutual accelerates its exit from East African real estate.
he Asset: Plot 1 Kimathi Avenue, a prime commercial property that historically served as the headquarters of UAP Insurance Uganda
This acquisition follows a string of aggressive real estate takeovers by Ruparelia in Kampala, including his 2024 purchase of Lotis Towers in Nakasero and the launch of his 19-story Pearl Tower One.
