Former Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh’s final legal hope to dodge the payment of Rs 3,500 crore ($550 milion) as arbitral award to Daiichi Sankyo Company Ltd has been quashed.
The Singapore Court of Appeals on May 28 dismissed the petitions made by the Singh brothers against the judgment of the High Court of Singapore in favor of Daiichi Sankyo, a press statement said.
The High Court of Singapore on December 21, 2018 had upheld the award of Singapore International Arbitration Centre made in May 2016.
The arbitration centre had slapped a fine of Rs 2,563 crore ($385 million) on the Singh brothers for concealing facts when they sold their stake in erstwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd to Daiichi in 2008. It had also asked them to pay Rs 950 crore more as interest, legal fees and other expenses that Daiichi incurred.
The Singh brothers had also challenged the Singapore panel’s ruling in the Delhi High Court, arguing that the arbitration award could not be enforced under Indian law.
The Delhi High Court had also dismissed the Singh brothers objections against Daiichi Sankyo over a Rs 3,500-crore ($550 million) award granted by a Singapore arbitration court in January 2018.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court of India had upheld the Delhi High court's order in February 2018 by dismissing the special leave petitions to appeal filed by the Singh brothers.
Later in November 2019, on a plea of Daiichi Sankyo, the Supreme Court held the Singh brothers guilty of contempt of its orders not to further divest their shareholding in Fortis Healthcare Ltd, which at that time was controlled by them.
The Supreme Court has also initiated suo moto contempt proceedings against the Singh brothers and Fortis for violating its order dated 14 December 2018 directing them to maintain status quo with respect to the sale of the controlling stake in Fortis to the Malaysian entity IHH Healthcare Bhd.
In response, Fortis in November last year said it was considering legal options after the apex court held the Singh brothers guilty of contempt for violating its order that asked them not to divest their shares in the hospital chain.