Re PT MNC Investama TBK [2020] SGHC 149 – Foreign company held to have standing to apply for moratorium for a scheme of arrangement
Significance: Indonesian company successfully applied for a moratorium under section 211B of the Companies Act, now section 65 of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (“IRDA“) (which came into force on 31 July 2020). The court, per Aedit Abdullah J, was satisfied that the applicant has a substantial connection to Singapore as per s 351(1)(d) and s 351(2A) of the Companies Act, now s 246(e) of the IRDA.
WHAT TO DO IF A COMPANY THAT OWES ME MONEY HAS BEEN WOUND UP?
By Ronald JJ Wong and Stacey Lopez
In this article, we address some questions you may have if you are a creditor of a Singapore company that has entered or is entering into liquidation or winding up due to insolvency or otherwise.
Significance: The Singapore High Court dismissed the bank’s claim to enforce a Deed of Debenture as the bank failed to prove that the debenture was authentic. The bank failed to call as witnesses the persons who signed the debenture, choosing instead to rely on other factual witnesses (not expert witnesses) to give evidence on the signatories’ signatures.
My heart ached when I read about George Floyd’s death and the protests in the United States under the #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) movement.
Photo by Life Matters from Pexels
Some people in Singapore joined in the unintentionally detrimental act of posting black squares on social media. Some criticize others’ silence on social media as complicity in racism.
I think it would be philosophically and practically untenable to impose a moral duty on everyone to (i) frequently monitor social media trends and/or current affairs; (ii) read and understand all sides of the issues; and (iii) post things that many people are posting on those issues.
(Imagine all the inane memes and food photos one would have to scroll through each day to get to these posts!)
Take for instance the Yemen civil war (read e.g. Geneva Academy page and war report 2017, ICJ briefing paper) or the Israel-Palestine conflict. These are complex issues that cannot be compressed into a trending hashtag.
That is of course all apart from the question of whether and how such a moral duty would lead to greater virtue in that person, virtuous conduct in relation to others, or improved well being of others.
Moreover, I wonder how much of the reflexive response is from an impulse to ease one’s guilt and virtue signal than to actually understand the situation and be in solidarity with the people who are crying out for justice. What they want is to express their frustration and tell their stories.
To then jump onto the bandwagon and post your own stuff riding on the movement when you are not one of them is to hijack their moment. It’s like you are telling your friend about your family problem and instead of listening, your friend starts to wax lyrical about sociological theories of social structures he learnt from Sociology 101 in school.
If social media platform + silence = complicity in racism (or any other social injustice), then we will not only be morally doomed, mentally exhausted, and emotionally spent. We will also probably be unable to live, whether attempting a virtuous life or not. To be clear, I am not suggesting indifference in the face of injustice. But silence on social media is not indifference. It means just that, silence on, or infrequent use or posting of, social media.
This must be an unprecedented blip in time. And I’m not talking about COVID-19. It must be unprecedented that a person’s virtue is determined by what one posts on a World Wide Web-connected account. There is no equivalence to anything before.
UVJ and others v UVH and others and another [2020] SGCA 49: judgment here; Supreme Court case summary here.
Significance: The Court of Appeal set out the law on account of profits and causation in claim against trustees and executors of a will and estate.
The case illustrates the possible course of action which beneficiaries of an estate may be able to take in holding executors / administrators of estates or wills to account, including for delay in providing information to the beneficiaries upon request and failing to distribute assets from the estate in a timely manner without good reasons.
What are the practical and legal repercussions if an expatriate living in Singapore passes on? Especially if the expatriate has family and assets in Singapore.
If your business is experiencing a slow-down because of Circuit Breaker and social distancing measures during this COVID-19 season 19, now is the best time to repair legal foundations, review internal systems, and position your business for when things pick up again.
Significance: Singapore Court of Appeal settles previously muddied law on causation principles for equitable compensation in breach of fiduciary cases.
If your business has been affected by COVID-19, consider if you may seek temporary relief under the new law or object to another party relying on such relief.
First, determine if your contract falls within the Scheduled Contracts.
Second, analyse or get legal advice on whether the inability to perform obligations is to a material extent due to a COVID-19 event.
Third, if you are the defaulting party, serve a notification for relief. If you are the non-defaulting party, consider whether to apply to the assessor for determination if such relief is entitled.
Fourth, if you have ongoing legal proceedings or action or arbitral proceedings, consider if you are barred from continuing further steps.
If your organization requires the conduct of meetings e.g. Annual General Meetings, take note of alternative arrangements for the conduct of meetings which would be compliant with circuit breaker and other measures.
If you are a property owner or tenant, consider if you may be required or entitled to pass or receive the benefits of property tax reductions.
