DAR ES SALAAM: THE High Court, Dar es Salaam Sub-Registry, has ordered the Director of Deposit Insurance Board (DIB), Mr Isack Kihwili, to appear on May 27, 2024 to explain status of execution of court’s decree for payments of 145.9bn/- to Coast Textile Limited.
Judge Salma Maghimbi gave the order last Friday when execution proceedings relating to the court’s decree issued about nine years ago came for mention. In the last Friday’s proceedings, Mr Kihwili was required to appear and show course as to why the decree given by the court in 2015 has not been implemented, but did not attend the session.
Records show that Mr Kihwili has not attended three consecutive sessions as directed by the court. The first time was March 6, 2024, followed by April 18, 2024 and Friday’s May 10, 2024.
State Attorney Francis Wilson, who appeared for the DIB Director, informed the court that Mr Kihwili attended in the morning, but left later because he had an appointment with his doctor.
As to the status of the payments, he submitted that the liquidator has started paying depositors first in line with what the law requires and that other creditors, like Coast Textile Limited, would be paid later.
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However, Advocate Joseph Rutabingwa, who is representing Coast Textile Limited, a local company, strongly opposed such line of argument by the state attorney.
As regarding the attendance of Mr Kihwili, the advocate said that he arrived early in morning at the court premises and could not see the DIP Director. “It is not good for someone to come here and mislead the court. I know Mr Kihwili.
I have been here since morning; I did not see him. It is better to tell the court the truth, this is not the first time he is ignoring court orders on this matter,” he submitted.
Regarding the execution of the payments, Advocate Rutabingwa submitted that the law was very clear as the person who is armed with a decree like his client, was the one who is required to be paid first and not otherwise.
The judge reminded the state attorney that the court order requiring Mr Kihwili to show course why he should not be committed to prison for failure to execute the decree was still intact.
Thus, she said, the DIB Director is required to appear in the next session. In previous sessions, another Judge Amir Mruma directed Mr Kihwili to comply with the notice, requiring him in person and not by representative to show up and give reasons as to why he has not complied with the decree of the court.
The judge pointed out that the money, which is the subject of the decree is not government money, but owned by FBME Bank Limited, which was taken over by the Bank of Tanzania.
On May 20, 2022, Judge Mruma ordered the DIB Director, who was appointed by BoT as liquidator of FBME, to pay such amount after granting an application for execution of the decree filed by Coast Textiles Limited.
The judge pointed out that as per section 3 of the Civil Procedure Code, the decree of the court is the formal expression of an adjudication which so far as regards the court expressing it, conclusively determine the rights of the parties with regard to the matter.
Coast Textiles Limited applied for execution, requesting the sum of 145.94bn/- be realised from the DIB, the liquidators of FBME, the default of which the Director of Board be held accountable.
The company decided to seek court’s intervention after the failure by FBME, whose operations were taken over by the BoT, to implement the judgment given by Judge Aloysius Mujulizi in 2015 on such payments.