Wakilii

Musana v Ankwatsa (HCCS 187 of 2014)

High Court · [2018] UGCOMMC 80 · 2018 Suit Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance civil suit commenced as summary suit under Order 36 CPR; defendant granted leave to defend
Decision
Suit dismissed; no recovery granted to plaintiff

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Court found that a written agreement of sale for land at UGX 320,000,000/= with UGX 200,000,000/= stated as paid was a sham intended to defraud a third party creditor holding the land title. Plaintiff denied interest in the property under oath in criminal proceedings involving the same land. Court held there was no genuine sale or purchase transaction between the parties. Suit dismissed with each party bearing own costs due to their joint untruthful conduct.

Outcome

Suit dismissed; no recovery granted to plaintiff

Facts

Plaintiff sued for recovery of UGX 200,000,000/= allegedly paid as part payment for land comprised in Nyabushozi Block 120 Plot 331. Parties signed written agreement dated 21 April 2012 stating purchase price of UGX 320,000,000/= with UGX 200,000,000/= paid and balance of UGX 120,000,000/= due by 20 August 2012. Before final payment date, land was transferred to Fred Kansiime on 26 July 2012. Defendant admitted signing agreement but claimed it was a sham to enable plaintiff file a caveat for defendant's benefit. Defendant had borrowed UGX 70,000,000/= from Kansiime, giving him the land title. Kansiime sued defendant in HCCS 234/2012; parties entered consent judgment requiring defendant to pay UGX 87,700,000/= by 30 August 2013, after which Kansiime would return title. A caveat was lodged against the property. In criminal proceedings (case 184 of 2013), plaintiff testified under oath that she had no interest in the land, never lodged the caveat, and had no land dealings with defendant. Plaintiff later claimed she was intimidated by Kansiime into making those statements.

Issues

  1. Whether or not there was a land sale transaction between the Plaintiff and the Defendant.
  2. Whether the Plaintiff paid UGX 200,000,000/= to the Defendant.
  3. What remedies are available.

Orders

  • Suit dismissed.
  • Each party to bear own costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Contract Law — Sham Agreements — Agreement to Defraud Third Parties
A written agreement of sale which is executed not to create genuine contractual obligations between the parties but to deceive and defraud a third party is a sham and unenforceable.
Evidence — Credibility — Testimony in Earlier Proceedings — Subsequent Contradictory Evidence
Where a party testifies under oath in earlier proceedings that she had no interest in property and no dealings with the other party, and later seeks to contradict that evidence claiming intimidation, the court is entitled to reject the claim of intimidation where no evidence of threat was reported to police or court and the witness confirmed she spoke the truth in the earlier proceedings.
Civil Procedure — Costs — Exercise of Discretion — Unclean Hands
Where both parties to litigation have engaged in joint untruthful conduct amounting to attempted fraud of a third party, the court may depart from the general rule that costs follow the event and order each party to bear own costs.

Legislation cited (1)

Full judgment

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

Musana v Ankwatsa (HCCS 187 of 2014) [2018] UGCommC 80 (16 October 2018)
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.