DPP Takes Over Vantage Bosses' Case

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has taken over the case in which directors of a South African moneye Lending firm,

Vantage Mezzanine Fund II Partnership, are accused of transacting business in Uganda without a licence.

 In a communication to Buganda Road Chief Magistrates’ Court dated March 28, 2024, the offi ce of the DPP said it had taken over the case which lawyer Wyckliffe Atuhairwe opened as a private prosecutor against Vantage bosses Warren Van Der Merwe, Mokgome Mogoba and Alexander Derek.

“The DPP under Article 120(C) of the 1995 Constitution and Section 43(1)(a) of the Magistrates Courts Act Cap 16, has decided to take over and continue criminal proceedings instituted by Atuhairwe against Warren Van Der Merwe, Mokgome Mogoba and Alexander Derek (all trading as Vantage Mezzanine Fund 11 Partnership) effective immediately,” reads the letter signed by Buganda Road Court resident chief state attorney Joan Keko, on behalf of the DPP (Jane Frances Abodo).

 The DPP’s office asked the private prosecutor (Atuhairwe) to furnish them with all documents and information pertaining to the proceedings of the case. 

The DPP also asked court to henceforth direct all communication regarding the case to her office. ARREST WARRANT, CHARGES. 

The development comes at a time when Buganda Road Chief Magistrates’ Court recently issued a warrant of arrest against the directors of Vantage after they failed to honour criminal summons. 

 According to the warrant of arrest signed by the acting Principal Magistrate Grade One, Winnie Jatiko Nankya, the accused (Merwe, Mogoba and Derek) are expected to appear in court on May 9 without fail.

 The arrest warrant was issued after the Vantage bosses failed to honour criminal summons issued on March 22 this year over allegations that they were transacting business in Uganda without a licence.

The warrant, which requires any Police officer to arrest the said directors on sight, was also copied to Interpol (International Police).

“You are hereby directed to arrest the said Merwe, Mogoba and Derek and produce them before me at Buganda Road Court in Kampala on or before May 9, 2024, without fail,” Nankya ordered.

 According to the charge sheet, Merwe is the Vantage company banker and managing partner; Mogoba is a chartered accountant, investment banker and associate partner at Vantage; while Derek is an attorney at Vantage.

Nankya issued the summons following an application filed by lawyer Atuhairwe.

The magistrate allowed Atuhairwe to commence private criminal prosecution against the South African moneylenders and sanctioned charges against the accused by signing the formal charge sheet attached to Atuhairwe’s application.

 “Having found that the court had the authority to issue the summons and that service was effectively done upon the accused persons, the court hereby disregards the accused counsel’s objections for lack of merit and hereby issues an arrest warrant against the accused persons,” the magistrate stated.

 The accused are represented by lawyer Robert Kirunda. It is purported that the accused, on December 31, 2014, in Kampala, obtained execution of a security, namely mortgage deeds for several properties of businessman Patrick Bitature to secure $10m (about sh38b), under the representation that Vantage was legally mandated to transact a moneylending business in Uganda, well knowing that the said representation was in fact, false.

High Court ruling In 2022, Justice Musa Ssekaana of the Civil Division of the High Court declared that Vantage is a non-existent legal entity and has no capacity to sue anybody in Uganda.

Ssekaana ruled that failure by Vantage to register as a partnership under Section 4 of the Partnerships Act, 2010, constitutes a criminal offence under Section 4(2) of the same Act.

The entity had rushed to the High Court to seek a judicial review over the decision by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau to refuse the transfer of shares to it from four of Bitature’s companies.

 The companies are Simba Properties Investment Company Limited, Simba Telecom Limited, Linda Properties Limited and Elgon Terrace Hotel Limited.

Ssekaana opined that for the South African firm to operate legally in Uganda, it had to first be registered in accordance with Ugandan laws and failure to do so invalidates their activities in the country, including instituting legal proceedings.

 Despite the ruling, Vantage attempted to take over Bitature’s multi-billion-shilling properties, claiming they were used as collateral.

But the Court of Appeal has since blocked the sale of the properties, pending the determination of applications before it.