Wakilii

Andreas Nicolaides and Another v Bank Of Africa Uganda Limited (Civil Suit No. 233 of 2026; Miscellaneous Application No. 703 of 2026)

High Court · [2026] UGHC 677 · 2026 Application Granted AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for unconditional leave to appear and defend a summary suit arising from personal guarantees
Decision
Applicants granted unconditional leave to defend the summary suit; matter to proceed to full trial

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The court granted unconditional leave to appear and defend where guarantors raised triable issues of law and fact. The court held that a bank's concurrent pursuit of receivership against the principal debtor and a summary suit against guarantors for the same debt raises a triable issue regarding the bank's right to sue guarantors while managing the debtor's assets through receivership. A triable issue of fact also arose regarding the quantum actually due where no account had been given of amounts recovered through the ongoing receivership.

Outcome

Applicants granted unconditional leave to defend the summary suit; matter to proceed to full trial

Facts

Bank of Africa Uganda Limited extended credit facilities totaling USD 2,400,000 to Great Lakes Coffee Company Limited between 2014 and 2021, secured by personal guarantees executed by the applicants (Andreas Nicolaides and Stamos Konstatinos) for up to USD 1,750,000. The principal debtor defaulted on repayment obligations. On 9 March 2023, the bank appointed receivers to manage the company's assets to recover the debt. The receivership remained ongoing. On 12 September 2025, the bank claimed the principal debtor owed USD 5,354,391.2 plus USD 110,265.75 in recovery costs. The bank then instituted a summary suit against the guarantors for the full debt. The applicants contended that the bank could not simultaneously pursue receivership and sue the guarantors for the same debt, and that the bank had given no account of amounts recovered through the receivership.

Issues

  1. Whether the Applicants have raised sufficient grounds to warrant the grant of unconditional leave to appear and defend Civil Suit No. 233 of 2026.
  2. What remedies are available to the parties.

Orders

  • The Applicants are hereby granted unconditional leave to appear and defend Civil Suit No. 233 of 2026.
  • The Applicants shall file and serve their Written Statement of Defence within fifteen (15) days from the date of this Ruling.
  • The Respondent shall file and serve its reply to the Written Statement of Defence within fifteen (15) days from the date of service of the Written Statement of Defence.
  • Costs of this application shall be in the cause.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Summary Procedure — Leave to Appear and Defend — Test for Granting Leave
For leave to appear and defend a summary suit to be granted, an applicant must show by affidavit or otherwise that there is a bona fide triable issue of fact or law. A triable issue is one capable of being resolved through a legal trial and arises when a material proposition of law or fact is affirmed by one party and denied by the other. The defence raised must not be a sham or needlessly bald, vague or sketchy.
Banking & Finance — Personal Guarantees — Enforcement Against Guarantors — Effect of Concurrent Receivership of Principal Debtor
Where a bank has placed a principal debtor under receivership to recover an outstanding debt and simultaneously institutes a summary suit against guarantors for the same debt, a triable issue of law arises as to whether the bank has a right to sue the guarantors while it is managing the principal debtor's assets through receivership for the purpose of recovering the same amounts.
Banking & Finance — Personal Guarantees — Quantum of Liability — Duty to Account for Amounts Recovered Through Receivership
Where a creditor seeks to recover the full debt from guarantors under a summary suit while the principal debtor has been under the creditor's receivership for a substantial period, a triable issue of fact arises regarding how much is actually due and owing if the creditor has not given any account of amounts recovered from the receivership.
Civil Procedure — Summary Procedure — Scope of Application — Cases Unsuitable for Summary Procedure
Summary procedure is resorted to in clear and straightforward cases where the demand is liquidated and there are no issues for determination by the court except for the grant of the claim. Where triable issues of law and fact are raised, the matter falls outside the ambit of summary procedure under Order 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules.

Legislation cited (5)

Cases cited (4)

  • Maluku Interglobal Trade Agency Ltd v Bank of Uganda [1985] HCB 65
  • Jamil Ssenyonjo v Jonathan Bunjo (High Court Civil Suit No. 180 of 2012)
  • Twentsche Overseas Trading Co. Ltd v Bombay Garage Ltd [1958] EA 741
  • Churanjilal & Co. v A.H Adam (1950) 17 EACA 92

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Andreas Nicolaides and Another v Bank Of Africa Uganda Limited (Civil Suit No. 233 of 2026; Miscellaneous Application No. 703 of 2026) [2026] UGHC 677 (19 June 2026)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.