Haide Building Materials Co Ltd v Ship Recycling Investments Inc

Case Significance

Haide Building Materials Co Ltd v Ship Recycling Investments Inc [2024] SGHC 222 was a decision of S Mohan J in the General Division of the High Court, issued on 30 August 2024 in Originating Application No 1255 of 2023. The matter concerned an application to set aside an arbitral award and engaged multiple grounds, including that the tribunal issued the award past the deadline contained in the institutional rules, raising questions about the effect of the delay on the tribunal's jurisdiction and whether the award was liable to be set aside for deviation from the parties' agreed procedure under Art 34(2)(a)(iv) of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration.

As reflected in the catchwords, the applicant, Haide Building Materials Co Ltd, also alleged that false evidence had been tendered in the arbitration such that the award was procured by fraud under s 24(a) of the International Arbitration Act 1994 (2020 Rev Ed), and advanced several breach of natural justice arguments under s 24(b), namely that the tribunal exhibited apparent bias in the conduct of the proceedings and in the award, that the tribunal failed to deal with the counterclaim after disposing of the main claim and so failed to address essential issues, and that the tribunal adopted an alleged "irrational or capricious" chain of reasoning without affording sufficient notice and an opportunity to respond. The grounds of decision discuss the Arbitration Act, the English Arbitration Act and the International Arbitration Act. The applicant was represented by Govintharasah s/o Ramanathan of Gurbani & Co LLC, while the respondent, Ship Recycling Investments Inc, was represented by counsel from Oon & Bazul LLP including Chan Cong Yen Lionel and Shalini Rajasegar.