SICC Upholds Arbitral Award in DNO v DNP: High Threshold for Setting Aside on Natural Justice and Public Policy Grounds

In DNO v DNP [2025] SGHC(I) 24, the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) dismissed an application by DNO to set aside a SIAC arbitral award in favor of DNP. The dispute arose from several 2020 contracts for the sale of raw cashew nuts and a Memorandum of Understanding governed by Singapore law. When the buyer defaulted, DNP terminated the contracts, resold the goods, and obtained a favorable arbitral award for damages.

DNO, claiming to be the legal successor of the original Indian partnership through conversion under Indian law, applied to set aside the award on two grounds: (a) breach of natural justice, and (b) conflict with Singapore’s public policy under Article 34(2)(b)(ii) of the UNCITRAL Model Law.

The SICC first held that DNO had standing to bring the application. On the evidence, the court accepted that the partnership’s legal personality had merged into DNO upon conversion, noting that continued filings under the partnership’s GST registration recorded nil taxable supplies inward and outward and were consistent with efforts to deregister the partnership.

On the merits, the Court rejected the natural-justice challenge, holding that the tribunal’s refusal to allow amendments to the defense was procedurally sound and showed no real prejudice. The proposed amendments were made late in the proceedings, would have complicated the arbitration, and were unlikely to have materially affected the outcome.

The public-policy argument also failed: alleged fabrication of invoices, illegality under Indian law, and ownership disputes did not reach the high threshold required to “shock the conscience” of Singapore’s legal system. The court reiterated that only violations of fundamental notions of justice or morality - those that would truly offend Singapore’s most basic principles - justify setting aside.

The application was therefore dismissed, and the award upheld. The judgment confirms Singapore’s strict approach to setting aside arbitral awards: intervention will occur only where serious procedural unfairness or a fundamental public-policy breach is clearly established.