The East African Court of Justice has awarded $1 million to exiled Rwandan businessman Tribert Rujugiro after concluding that the Kigali government violated the East African Community Treaty when it took over and sold his shopping mall.
The decision was made on Tuesday. The award bears a six-percent annual interest charge until Rwanda makes the full payment to Rujugiro.
Theophile Mbonera, the permanent secretary of Rwanda’s Justice Ministry, described the ruling as disappointing and said the government will review the decision to determine whether to appeal.
“The mall has legal representatives, but they are not the ones who sued us. We will ask the court to examine the legal rights of the plaintiff to sue on behalf of the mall, among other things,” Mbonera said, adding that more details will be revealed after the decision is reviewed next week.
After the government designated the Union Trade Centre (UTC) as a “abandoned property” in 2013, four years after Rujugiro, the majority owner, fled Rwanda, it was placed under statutory management. He had a 97-percent ownership position in the property.
In 2020, the EACJ awarded UTC $500,000 in general damages and legal costs, but declined to award compensation for the sold mall. The UTC mall was estimated to be worth $10 million. Rwanda appealed the decision.
UTC petitioned the regional court in 2013, challenging the government’s actions to take over the mall’s management and redirect tenants’ rental payments.
Rwanda claimed that the mall was an abandoned property that was auctioned off by the taxman to recover taxes in accordance with domestic law.
However, the court stated that the government’s actions were not people-centered or market-driven, which is an operational principle of the EAC under the treaty.
In September 2017, the mall was auctioned off for Rwf6,877,150,000 ($6.87 million).
Rujugiro, 81, is the founder and chairman of Pan African Tobacco Group, the largest manufacturer of tobacco products in Africa, with operations across multiple African countries.
He fled Rwanda for South Africa in 2009 after being charged with tax evasion and money laundering in the United Kingdom.
He is also accused of funding an exiled opposition group, Rwanda National Congress, which has been linked to terrorism in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
