Liability of Company Directors

Guning v Naguru Tirupati Ltd & 5 Ors (MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION NO. 232 OF 2017) [2017] UGCOMMC 122 (18 September 2017);

Flynote: 

Headnote and Holding: 

The applicant was directed to use other means to recover a judgment debt. The application was instituted to hold the second to sixth respondents liable for the first respondent’s debt as the controlling company of the first respondent.

The applicant argued that unless the corporate veil was lifted, and the second to sixth respondents were ordered to pay the debt, the applicant would not be able to recover the  judgment debt. 

The issues before the court were whether corporate veil could be lifted.

The court held that the first respondent company and second respondent company were one and the same. From the evidence, the third to sixth respondents were acting on behalf of the first and second respondents.

Grounds for lifting the veil were provided in section 20 of the Companies Act, and included where a company or its directors are involved in acts of fraud. The court held that the instruments of the first respondent were honestly executed. Failure to execute the court order was not reason for lifting the corporate veil as it was not evidence of fraud. However, a further ground for lifting the corporate veil was to prevent the deliberate evasion of contractual obligations. The court held that the third to sixth respondents’ resolve to sell the properties were attempts to prevent the realization of the judgment debt, and using the first respondent as a mask for fraud. 

The application was granted.
 

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