Thursday, September 2, 2021

Customer sues financial centre for using his details to get loan

 


Uganda's legal tender. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY

By Betty Ndagire

Court has given Entrepreneur Financial Centre 15 days within which it must defend itself on allegations of breach of a customer’s constitutional right to privacy. 

Court documents indicate that the Entrepreneur Financial Centre published the image of a customer on its website without his consent.

In a case filed before the Commercial Division of the High Court, Mr Thomas Genza, faults the Entrepreneur Financial Centre, seeking compensation for breach of royalty, confidence, general and aggravated damages, interest and cost of the suit, among others.

Court summons also indicate that should Entrepreneur Financial Centre fail to file a defence, Mr Genza will proceed with the case and judgement might be passed without its input.

According to court documents, Mr Genza, who is a holder of an account with the accused finance institution at its Ndeeba branch, was shocked that his image had been published on the Entrepreneur Financial Centre and used to solicit for a loan from an alleged financier. 

Sometime in July 2021, according to court documents, Mr Genza was shocked to discover a resemblance of his image published on the Entrepreneur Financial Centre website with the aim of soliciting €300,000 (about Shs1,254.9b) from Lendahand, a Netherlands-based organisation. 

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This, he says, that whereas he, and the financial institution had maintained a good working relationship, he had not been made aware that his image, and others, had been used to assist Entrepreneur Financial Centre to borrow money from Lendahand.

Acting through Kavuma Kabega and Company Advocates, Mr Genza says during trial he will prove that Entrepreneur Financial Centre fraudulently misrepresented facts in persuading Lendahand to advance it capital loan by claiming that their client (Mr Genza) was a founder member of the Zigoti Miller Association.

He also states that Entrepreneur Financial Centre’s illegality of using his image and such other details for purposes of obtaining financial capital without his consent, amounts to passing off, constitutes an infringement of his privacy and is as such entitled to damages, compensation and royalty against such infringement.

Demand   
According to court documents, Mr Genza wants court to declare that Entrepreneur Financial Centre violated his right to privacy and unlawfully, unfairly, transacted and gained from the use of his name. 

He also wants court to order for compensation for invading his privacy and costs to the suit, among others.

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