DDI v DDJ & Anor

Case Significance

DDI v DDJ and another [2024] SGHC 68 was decided by the General Division of the High Court of Singapore on 14 March 2024, in Originating Application No 591 of 2023, with judgment delivered by Chua Lee Ming J following a hearing on 19 September 2023. The matter was an application to set aside an arbitral award under s 48 of the Arbitration Act 2001 (2020 Rev Ed) on the grounds of excess of jurisdiction, bias, and breach of the fair hearing rule. The applicant and respondents in the proceedings had been the claimant and respondents respectively in the arbitral proceedings, which concerned the sale and purchase of shares in a company that owned a piece of jewellery named after and endorsed by a celebrity. According to the judgment, as of 26 January 2021 the applicant owned 50% of the shares in a company ("Company DA") and was its sole director; the first respondent was a businessman resident in Singapore who was the sole director and 100% shareholder of the second respondent, a company incorporated in Singapore. The jewellery contained a laboratory-grown gemstone, and on 9 December 2020 the second respondent had entered into a fractional ownership arrangement. The catchwords record that the case concerned the setting aside of an arbitral award. The applicant was represented by counsel including Ho Pei Shien Melanie, Chang Man Phing Jenny, Goh Sher Hwyn Rebecca and Tang Shangwei (Zheng Shangwei) of WongPartnership LLP, with the respondents represented by Devathas Satianathan, Thawdar Soe Moe @ The Sandi Tun and Yeo En Fei Walter of Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP. The judgment also referenced the Arbitration Act and the International Arbitration Act.