The High court in Kampala has ordered Dr Elizabeth Nabatanzi Lugudde, a former presidential aide, to pay dfcu bank Shs 165.7 million after finding that she fraudulently obtained a Shs 20 million loan by presenting an impostor as her husband.In his ruling, justice Stephen Mubiru found that Nabatanzi used a man posing as her husband, Samwiri Lugudde Kanyike Katwe, to secure a Shs 20 million overdraft from the bank in 2008.According to court documents, Nabatanzi and the purported husband obtained the overdraft to finance the transportation of merchandise to South Sudan. As security for the facility, she presented a certificate of title for land in Lungujja registered in the name of Samwiri Lugudde Kanyike Katwe.However, Nabatanzi failed to repay the loan after a truck transporting the merchandise to South Sudan was involved in an accident in Gulu.The bank subsequently moved to recover its money by selling the mortgaged property. The land was eventually sold to Peter Ivor Page and Beatrice Loiza Nakaye Page for Shs 26 million.It was during the subsequent dispute that the bank discovered that the man Nabatanzi had presented as her husband was actually her brother-in-law, Moses Kamya.Samwiri Lugudde Kanyike Katwe subsequently sued dfcu Bank, disputing that he had consented to mortgaging his land.Before the matter could be determined, the bank opted for an out-of-court settlement, paying Lugudde Kanyike Shs 11.5 million in general damages. It also reached a settlement with the Pages, agreeing to pay them Shs 50 million in damages.Together with the bank’s legal expenses, the settlements amounted to approximately Shs 71.8 million. In its subsequent suit against Nabatanzi, dfcu bank sought to recover the settlement costs and the outstanding loan, which had accumulated to approximately Shs 83 million.In her defence, Nabatanzi admitted that she had presented another person in place of her husband but argued that she did so with his knowledge and consent.Justice Mubiru rejected the argument, holding that her husband’s alleged consent did not absolve her of responsibility for deceiving the bank.“The defendant’s defence hinges on the assertion that her husband Mr Samwiri Lugudde Kanyike Katwe consented to the transaction and personally handed over the title; and she sets up an absurd defence: that she substituted another man to act as her husband with her husband’s consent,” the judge observed.He added that the admission established fraudulent misrepresentation, noting that Nabatanzi had deliberately presented an impostor to execute legal banking documents.“By presenting an impostor to execute legal banking documents, the defendant engaged in deliberate deception,” Mubiru ruled.The judge further held that Nabatanzi could not have believed that Moses Kamya, her brother-in-law, was her husband, adding that presenting him to the bank as such satisfied the legal elements of fraudulent misrepresentation.Justice Mubiru consequently ordered Nabatanzi to pay the bank the outstanding loan balance of Shs 83.8 million, which will attract interest at 25 per cent from 2021.He also ordered her to reimburse dfcu bank the approximately Shs 71 million it incurred in legal expenses and settlements arising from the disputed mortgage transaction.In addition, the judge awarded the bank Shs 10 million in punitive damages and ordered Nabatanzi to pay the costs of the suit.The post Ex-Museveni aide who presented fake husband to bank ordered to pay Shs 165m appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.