By Our Reporter
After continuously being shown in bad light in sections of the media, dfcu Bank has warned it will take the legal course to seek reparations if the media attacks continue. In a legal notice that has surfaced online, the bank accuses Rajiv Ruparelia of orchestrating the smear campaign against its business over the last 10 months since they took over some of the assets and liabilities of Crane Bank.
Through its lawyers, Kalenge, Bwanika, Ssawa and Company Advocates (KBS), dfcu claims Rajiv “sponsored, coordinated and propagated a fake news campaign” through online news sites and blogs with a motive to cause a bank run and eventual collapse of the bank.
“You have variously paid the operators of online news sites and blogs to spread malicious falsehoods about our client and its senior management, all to create an impression that our client is in a precarious financial situation and an ownership and management crisis whereas this is not the case,” reads part of the letter dated 5th October.
“Once the malicious false hoods have been crafted into sensationalist online content you have been repeatedly sending web links to the sites carrying these falsehoods using social media particularly Whatsapp,” the letter further reads. “You have done this repeatedly and to a very large number of recipients with a view to driving traffic to the false stories you had paid for and in the hope that the links would go viral and cause maximum damage to the reputation of dfcu Bank.”
KBS also outed several online publications and bloggers whom they claim are Rajiv’s vessel for executing the fake news campaign, which they say amounts to corporate defamation and economic sabotage.
“Your repeated conduct amounts to the civil torts of corporate defamation and interference with our client’s business by unlawful means,” KBS notes. “Your repeated attempts to destabilize the second largest financial institution in Uganda also amount to economic sabotage and have national security implications.”
dfcu bank is demanding a written apology from Rajiv as well as restraint from engaging in this “nefarious and malicious” campaign or it will initiate criminal complaint and commence civil proceedings against him.