The High Court has dismissed a suit by Prince Walugembe Sulaiman Kakungulu challenging a personal guarantee and mortgage registered over his Kibuli property in connection with a loan involving Malfini Gas Limited.In a judgment delivered on November 4, 2026, Justice Stephen Mubiru ruled that Kakungulu had not proved his claims of misrepresentation and mistake. The court ordered him to pay costs to Guaranty Trust Bank (U) Ltd and George Owanyi, the bank’s employee at the time of the transaction.Kakungulu told the court that in January 2019, Malfini Gas Limited’s director introduced Owanyi and asked him to guarantee a Shs300 million loan the company intended to obtain from the bank. He said he was promised 20 per cent of the amount in return and was assured the arrangement would benefit him. According to Kakungulu, he signed several documents at the bank’s premises without reading them. The bank then registered a mortgage over his property, described as Kibuga Block 15 Plot 154 at Kibuli. He said the bank later declined to advance the loan he understood the guarantee would secure.Kakungulu said he subsequently learned that the documents had instead been used as security for a loan Malfini Gas had already obtained. He asked the defendants to return his title deed and provide copies of the signed documents, but they refused, according to his claim. He alleged that the defendants fraudulently induced him to guarantee the borrowing without receiving consideration and while mistaken about the purpose of the documents. He asked the court to declare the guarantee and mortgage null and void, vacate the mortgage, order the return of his title deed and documents, and award him damages and costs.The bank denied committing fraud, saying Kakungulu was an associate of its customers and had consented to act as their personal guarantor. It also told the court he had been advised to obtain independent legal advice before signing and had signed the documents willingly.The bank argued that the mortgage could not be released until the secured debt was paid in full and said it was not party to any private agreement between Kakungulu and Owanyi.Owanyi said he had been a bank employee and had acted only in that capacity during the loan transaction. He denied personal liability.In addressing objections concerning the claim against Owanyi, the court said the plaintiff alleged both personal fraudulent conduct by him and vicarious liability on the part of the bank.The judge said those were “cumulative and alternative bases of liability expressly contemplated by sections 164 and 169 of The Contracts Act,” and rejected the objection as “misconceived.”The court also rejected a separate objection, finding that the plaintiff disclosed a discernible cause of action in fraud, although its particulars were deficient. “This objection too is overruled,” the judge said.The judgment said Kakungulu had standing to challenge the guarantee and mortgage on grounds of fraud and misrepresentation, even though the loan was to be disbursed to the borrower. The court concluded that the suit disclosed a cause of action and was “neither frivolous or vexatious.”However, the judge found that Kakungulu had not established misrepresentation on the balance of probabilities.“Overall, the plaintiff has not proved his claim of misrepresentation against the defendants,” the judgment said.The court also held that the guarantee and mortgage could not be set aside on the basis of unilateral mistake.“The personal guarantee and mortgage instrument executed by the plaintiff cannot be vitiated on account of unilateral mistake,” the judge said. The suit was dismissed with costs to the defendants.The post “I Signed Without Reading”: Court Dismisses Businessman’s Suit to Free Kibuli Property from Bank Mortgage appeared first on Business Focus.