Singapore Supreme Court dismisses Singh Brothers' appeal against HC order

The Singapore Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by erstwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories' former promoters Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh against a High Court order that declined to set aside an arbitration award in favour of Japan's Daichii Sankyo.

Confirming the development, Anand Pathak, Managing Partner P&A Law Offices, representing Japanese pharma firm Daaichi Sankyo said, "The Singapore Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal."

He further said, "We have been trying to enforce the award and we will continue in a very focussed way to enforce the award, now that there is a finality to the appeal."

With interests and everything, the total amount is in excess of Rs 3,500 crore, Pathak said.

Daichii Sankyo, which had acquired majority control of erstwhile Ranbaxy from the Singh brothers in 2008 for around Rs 19,800 crore, began arbitration proceedings in Singapore in 2012 against the brothers alleging misrepresentation and concealment of material facts during the takeover.

In April 2016, the arbitration panel had ruled in favour of the Japanese drug maker and awarded Rs 2,500 crore in damages and held that the former promoters of Ranbaxy were liable for fraud.

Subsequently, Daichii commenced simultaneous proceedings for leave to enforce the award as a court judgment in the Delhi High Court and Singapore High Court, where it received favourable judgements.

The order of the Singapore High Court was challenged in the Supreme Court by the Singh brothers.

Last year, the Enforcement Directorate had arrested both Malvinder and Shivinder in connection with a probe into alleged misappropriation of funds from Religare Finvest, a financial services firm they promoted after selling their stake in Ranbaxy.