DKB v DKC

Case Significance

DKB v DKC [2024] SGHC(I) 31 was a decision of the Singapore International Commercial Court delivered by Thomas Bathurst IJ on 25 October 2024, in Originating Application No 10 of 2024 (Summons No 46 of 2024). The applicant, DKB, was the assignee of the Final Award issued on 9 October 2023 in a Swiss-seated arbitration between B and the defendant, DKC (the B Award). By an ex parte order made on 29 December 2023, DKB was granted leave to enforce the B Award under s 29 of the International Arbitration Act 1994 (2020 Rev Ed), and in that application DKB also sought payment of the sum awarded to its assignor of US$315,913,822.32. By summons HC/SUM 1177/2024 filed on 24 April 2024, DKC sought a stay of all further proceedings under s 6 of the International Arbitration Act, and by HC/SUM 1133/2024 sought to set aside the earlier order. In support, DKC relied on a deed dated 23 March 2017 between DKB, DKC and two other parties, C and D (the Settlement Deed), under which D would transfer its shares in a company, E, to C for US$150,000,000 payable by instalments commencing on 30 June 2017 and concluding on 31 March 2027. The judgment addressed the civil-procedure question of whether a question of foreign law is to be determined by submissions or by proof.