Whistleblower Challenges Singapore’s Reputation for Arbitration Impartiality
Bogus Russian coal mine forms basis of bias allegations
By: Andy Wong Ming Jun
Singapore’s reputation as a center for impartial international legal arbitration is facing an unexpected challenge to its credibility from an internal whistleblower within the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), which functions to adjudicate cases, manages the cases’ finances, appoints arbitrators from a worldwide panel and oversees the process to seek to ensure enforceable awards.
The whistleblower flagged what were described as serious ethical and legal concerns regarding one of the three arbiters on a ruling panel overseeing a landmark ruling saddling the Indian industrial giant Tata Power with close to half a billion dollars in compensation to the Icelandic-owned Kleros Capital Partners over a non-existent Russian coal mine. The dispute arose from claims that Tata had breached confidentiality and non-circumvention clauses.
The anonymous whistleblower’s allegations pertain to a King’s Counsel (KC) chosen by the BVI-registered Kleros to be part of the three-man arbitration panel overseeing the dispute. Identified in a Zimbabwean online news site and Global Arbitration Review as Stuart Isaacs, the counsel is facing scrutiny from the British Bar Standards Board (BSB) for failing to declare his past association with Kleros and its Icelandic owner Ingo Skúlason, who in September 2017 sponsored Isaacs’ tourist visa to visit Russia…
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