Singapore High Court: Solvadis Commodity Chemicals GmbH v Affert Resources Pte Ltd [2014] 1 SLR 174; [2013] SGHC 217*

In this case, the Singapore High Court ordered a worldwide Mareva injunction in aid of foreign arbitration proceedings against the Defendant, a Singapore company. The Plaintiff was Solvadis Commodity Chemicals GmbH, a German company engaged in the business of exporting sulphur.

The High Court held that Section 12A of the International Arbitration Act (Cap 143A, 2002 Rev Ed) (“the IAA”) empowered the High Court to grant interim measures in aid of arbitration. This included the power to grant a Mareva injunction. In this case, the requirements of appropriateness (Section 12A(3) of the IAA), urgency (Section 12A(4) of the IAA) and the inability of the arbitral tribunal to act effectively for the time being (Section 12A(6) of the IAA) were satisfied.

On the facts, the Court held that the Defendant’s seeming lack of commercial morality constituted solid evidence of a real risk of dissipation of assets.

The Court dismissed the Defendant’s application to set aside the Mareva injunction. The Court held that there was no material non-disclosure and there was also no intention on the part of the Plaintiff to mislead the Court in the ex parte application.

The Defendant’s expedited appeal against this decision to the Court of Appeal was subsequently dismissed on 25 November 2013 with no written grounds of decision rendered.

* Dominic Chan and Noel Oehlers of Characterist LLC successfully acted for the Plaintiff in this case.

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