The Government of Rwanda yesterday won the case which self-exiled businessman Tribert Rujugiro, through UTC Ltd, had filed at the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) in Arusha, Tanzania.

In the case, filed in 2013, the plaintiff claimed that the act of takeover of the management of Rujugiro’s shares in UTC Ltd by the Nyarugenge District Abandoned Properties Commission was a violation of the EAC Treaty.

The litigant also argued that the Attorney General was liable in compensation, damages and declaratory orders.Both parties made their case before a panel of five EACJ judges.

In its judgement, the court ruled that the takeover of UTC mall, located in Kigali’s Central Business District, was done based on Rwanda’s national laws on abandoned property.

The court said the law had not been challenged by the applicant before, thus EACJ did not have jurisdiction to examine whether the decision to take over the mall violated Rwanda’s national laws since Article 27 of the EAC Treaty limits the court’s jurisdiction to interpretation of the Treaty.

All the remedies sought by the applicant were denied and reference dismissed.

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