The Singapore Court of Appeal has just issued its written judgment allowing PT First Media’s appeal to the extent that it has refused Astro leave to enforce the Awards in both OS 807/2010 and OS 913/2010 in relation to the Tribunal’s orders in the Awards that purport to apply as between PT First Media and the 6th to 8th Respondents.

The Court of Appeal concluded (at para 230) that,

“The joinder of the 6th to 8th Respondents to the Arbitration had been predicated on a misaken construction of the 2007 SIAC Rules. The Awards rendered in their favour therefore suffer from a defecit in jurisdiction and are refused enforcement purusant to s 19 of the IAA. As [PT First Media] had not waived and is not otherwise estopped from raising its valid objection to the Tribunal’s jurisdiction, [PT First Media] was within its rights to challenge the enforcement of the Awards by the 6th to 8th Respondents. As such, leave to enforce is granted only in relation to the Tribunal’s orders which are exclusively directed at the 1st to the 5th Respondents…”

The judgment itself is 120 pages long and warrants a detailed read through. Comments to follow in a later post.