Legal

Petrolimex Singapore wins USD 30 million bankruptcy order against ex-Brightoil Chairman

Dr Sit Kwong Lam lost an appeal against the bankruptcy order at Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal on 24 October 2019 due to missing Arbitration Clause in Personal Guarantee.

Published

7 years ago

November 11, 2019

Admin

An appeal by the former Chairman and Executive Director of Hong Kong-listed Brightoil Petroleum Holdings Dr Sit Kwong Lam against a bankruptcy order presented by Petrolimex Singapore Pte Ltd due to debt of over USD 30 million has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal in the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on 24 October 2019.

Developments leading up to the case

Brightoil Petroleum (Singapore) Pte Ltd (Brightoil Singapore), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brightoil Petroleum Holdings bought USD 30,253,600 worth of goods from Petrolimex Singapore on 23 April 2018 payable under two invoices, but had difficulty paying, according to the judgement seen by Manifold Times.

A Personal Guarantee (which did not contain any Arbitration Clause) undertaken by Dr Sit Kwong Lam on 23 April 2018 guaranteed the punctual payment performance by Brightoil Singapore for the two invoices on or before 10 July 2018.

However, Brightoil Singapore failed to pay the sum due by 10 July 2018; this resulted in the company and Petrolimex Singapore on 12 July 2018 entering into a contractual arrangement (which included an arbitration clause) for payment via four instalments between 10 August 2018 and 9 November 2018.

Aside from payment of USD 100,000 to Petrolimex Singapore, Brightoil Singapore did not make further payments to the former. Hence, Petrolimex Singapore initiated a winding up petition against Brightoil Singapore on 23 October 2018.

Issue of the contested ‘Arbitration Clause’

In the latest development, lawyers representing Dr Sit said the contractual arrangement between Brightoil Singapore and Petrolimex Singapore on 12 July 2018 included an Arbitration Clause from a Personal Guarantee signed by Dr Sit on 23 April 2018.

However, the court did not find an Arbitration Clause existing in the Personal Guarantee signed by Dr Sit at the earlier date.

“The judge acknowledged that while in construing a contract, all parts of it must be given effect where possible and no part of it should be treated as inoperative or surplus, he took the view that the reference to “arbitration clause” in clause 4 of the PG Addendum was a clerical mistake, which should be ignored as a matter of construction,” stated Susan Kwan, Vice President, Peter Cheung, Justice of Appeal, and Carlye Chu, Justice of Appeal, in a joint statement explaining the judgement on 1 November 2019.

Kwan, Cheung, and Chu believed, “it is more probable than not the parties had mistakenly believed the Personal Guarantee had incorporated an arbitration clause in the same or similar terms as clause 7 of the Settlement Agreement.”

Verdict

The trio concluded: “The debt in the petition is not subject to any arbitration provision. There is no challenge to the holding that there is no bona fide dispute of the debt on substantial grounds. We have therefore dismissed the Debtor’s appeal with costs.”

A chronologically organised list of articles related to Dr Sit Kwong Lam’s involvement in Brightoil is as follows:

Photo credit: Wpcpey [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]
Published: 11 November, 2019

Winding up

Singapore: Liquidators of East Marine Pte Ltd issues notice of annual meeting

Annual meeting of the company and its creditors will be held at 8 Wilkie Road, #03-08 Wilkie Edge, Singapore 228095 via audio-visual conference on 20 August at 11am.

Published

2 days ago

August 12, 2026

Admin

A notice of annual meeting was issued by liquidators of East Marine Pte Ltd, which is in creditor’s voluntary liquidation, on the Government Gazette on Friday (7 August).

According to the notice, the annual meeting of the company and its creditors will be held at 8 Wilkie Road, #03-08 Wilkie Edge, Singapore 228095 via audio-visual conference on 20 August at 11am.

The purpose of the meeting is to have an account laid before the meeting showing the acts and dealings of the liquidators and the conduct of the winding up in the preceding year.

The following are the details of the liquidators:

Ng Kian Kiat
Yap Hui Li
Liquidators
c/o 8 Wilkie Road
#03-08 Wilkie Edge
Singapore 228095

Photo credit: steve pb from Pixabay
Published: 12 August, 2026

Winding up

Singapore: Annual and final meetings to be held for Asia-Pacific Shipyard Pte Ltd

Annual meeting and the final meeting of the company and its creditors will be held at 8 Wilkie Road, #03-08 Wilkie Edge, Singapore 228095 via audio-visual conference on 9 September.

Published

2 days ago

August 12, 2026

Admin

A notice of annual meeting and final meeting was issued by liquidators of Asia-Pacific Shipyard Pte Ltd, which is in creditor’s voluntary liquidation, on the Government Gazette on Friday (7 August).

According to the notice, the annual meeting and the final meeting of the company and its creditors will be held at 8 Wilkie Road, #03-08 Wilkie Edge, Singapore 228095 via audio-visual conference on 9 September.

The annual meeting will be held at 2pm while the final meeting will be held at 3pm.

The purpose of the meeting is to have an account laid before the meeting showing the acts and dealings of the liquidators and the conduct of the winding up in the preceding year and the manner in which the winding up has been conducted and the property of the company has been disposed of and hearing any explanation that may be given by the liquidators.

The following are the details of the liquidators:

Ng Kian Kiat
Yap Hui Li
Liquidators
c/o 8 Wilkie Road
#03-08 Wilkie Edge
Singapore 228095

Photo credit: Drew Beamer
Published: 12 August, 2026

Sanctions

Reed Smith relocates sanctions partner Alex Brandt from London to Singapore

Brandt’s relocation to the city-state is a direct response to increased client demand for sanctions advice in Asia, says law firm.

Published

2 days ago

August 12, 2026

Admin

Reed Smith relocates sanctions partner Alex Brandt from London to Singapore

Global law firm Reed Smith on Tuesday (11 August) announced the relocation of global shipping and sanctions partner Alex Brandt from London to Singapore.

Brandt advises insurers, owners, charterers, brokers, and traders on all aspects of sanctions-related challenges, providing analysis of applicable legislation, assistance with due diligence work, and training.

He has extensive experience of U.S. and UK government investigations, disclosures, and enforcement actions and has been centrally involved in many of the most high-profile designations, seizures, and enforcement actions brought against members of the international shipping community.

Brandt also has wide-ranging experience drafting protective language for transportation, trade and financing contracts, and has worked with major lenders and other organisations to develop best-in-class compliance programmes. He also has sat on a number of BIMCO and other organisations’ drafting committees, assisting in the development of industry standard clauses.

In addition to his role in the global sanctions practice, Brandt routinely advises on contractual and tortious rights and obligations pertaining to a wide range of dry shipping matters, including charterparties, P&I club rules, bills of lading, ship sales and purchases, and shipbuilding.

Brandt has previously spent four years in Reed Smith’s Hong Kong office, where in addition to his dry shipping work, he assisted in a number of casualty investigations and criminal prosecutions arising from major casualties.

Praj Samant, Reed Smith’s Asia-Pacific managing partner, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Alex to the Singapore office, and back to Asia. He is a tremendous talent with a global perspective and commercial outlook, which is an invaluable asset to clients both in the region and beyond.”

Richard Hakes, global chair of Reed Smith’s Transportation Industry Group, said: “Our transportation practice’s commitment to Asia and to our clients based in the region is longstanding and Alex’s relocation is a direct response to the needs of our clients. We have a leading and growing shipping practice across Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore – with a number of new arrivals in the last year. Alex will be joining that team at an exciting time for us, and at a time where there is high regional demand for his complex sanctions advice.”

Brandt added: “I am delighted to be making the move to a region I am very familiar with already. It is clear that our global clients require increased support in the region, and I look forward to working with the regional team here, as well as continuing to collaborate with our market-leading sanctions team globally.”

Photo credit: Reed Smith
Published: 12 August, 2026