- The four dollar accounts belong to World Islamic Call Society.(WICS).
- Justice Ssekaana issued the order
- The said freeze was unlawful.
- They were opened in 2019 and frozen in 2020.
Tropical Bank Limited has been ordered by Court to immediately unfreeze the bank accounts of World Islamic Call Society (WICS), an International and Interstate humanitarian organization.
The order was issued by the High Court Civil Division head Justice Musa Ssekaana.
Justice Ssekaana further declared that the blocking or freezing of the operations of the organization's bank accounts was unlawful and a violation of its rights.
In his rulling, Justice Ssekaana noted that the said actions were in breach of the agreement entered between the two, stating that although banks have rights to open and close bank accounts, they however should do it fairly through justifiable means; adding that the freeze should also not be indefinite.
In 2021, the organization petitioned the High Court in Kampala challenging the decision to freeze its four bank accounts which were opened in 2019 to keep shillings , dollars and Euro currencies.
According to evidence before Court, in 2019, the organization executed a Host Agreement with the Government of Uganda where the Government committed itself to grant the organization immunity from all legal processes.
However, the documents indicated that around April 2020, when the organization attempted to transact from its Uganda Shilling and Dollar accounts which were used for daily organization operations, it eas shocked to discover that the said accounts and the other accounts were frozen and suspended by Tropical Bank.
The Court heard that the bank denied the organization to have access to its money which caused untold suffering, anguish, loss, inconvenience and hardships after its termination.
It was revealed that the said accounts were closed on the orders of the General Manager of WICS in Libya, but the organisation protested the said move calling it illegal and arbitrary.
According to WICS, the said move was also suspicious and breached the diplomatic previledges Act and Host Agreement.
Justice Ssekaana faulted bank of abusing its authority by receiving orders of how a foreign bank should be run by the the Managing Director in Libya since the said agreement could only be changed by the host country Uganda among othersThe Court dismissed the said Case with costs.End