Park Hotel Management and Allen Law's legal battle results in landmark High Court judgment for insolvency law
In a landmark judgement last year, Justice Goh Yihan dismissed Law's application on the basis that the counterclaims Law sought to introduce did not fall within the scope of insolvency set-offs.
Justice Goh ruled that insolvency set-offs are the only form of set-offs that can be advanced against an insolvent company without requiring permission from the court.
This is the first time a court in Singapore has authoritatively addressed the legal issue of what kind of set-offs are available against an insolvent company.
An insolvency set-off is a mechanism by which a company's debt is cancelled out or reduced by the amount the other party owes, if the company goes into liquidation. There are also legal and equitable set-offs but these are not provided for in the Singapore statutes.
In his application, Law claimed that the S$6.8 million included S$4.3 million which he paid to UOB as a guarantor of a loan extended by the bank to PHMPL and S$2.5 million which was paid to discharge PHMPL's debts.
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Since 2022, the liquidators of PHMPL and Law have been embroiled in several related court cases over the disposal of assets sold to entities related to Law before PHMPL was placed into liquidation.
The main case pertains to whether Law transferred virtually all of PHMPL's assets to himself and three companies under his control, in undervalued transactions or in breach of Law's duties as a director.
'The effect of these transactions was allegedly to substantially reduce the sums available for distribution amongst PHMPL's creditors in the event of its liquidation,' Justice Goh said.
While a verdict has yet to be delivered for the main case, in dismissing Law's application to introduce a counterclaim, Justice Goh said that because the claims against the defendants were based on the defendants' 'wrongdoing', the claims do not satisfy the requirement of mutual dealings required for insolvency set-offs.
In their suit, PHMPL's liquidators allege that Law committed breach of fiduciary duty, breach of trust and conspiracy through unlawful means.
Citing English case law, Justice Goh said: 'There is no set-off available between a debt due to a misfeasant and his liability to repay the monies which he has been ordered to pay in misfeasance proceedings'.
He pointed out how in English legal scholar Sir Roy Goode said: 'Any other conclusion would enable the wrongdoer to benefit from his wrongdoing by recovery through set-off instead of having to prove in the winding-up in competition with other creditors.'
In another judgement released last Friday (May 23), High Court Judge Audrey Lim ruled that another of PHMPL's creditors, the trustee of Ascendas Hospitality Reit (AH-Reit), will not be able to claim the full amount it is seeking from PHMPL's subsidiary PHCQ, which is also in liquidation.
This was after Park Hotel Group Management, one of Law's companies, challenged how AH-Reit had derived its claim for over S$562,400 in property tax it was seeking from the liquidators.
AH-Reit, which has since combined with Ascott Residence Trust to form what is known today as CapitaLand Ascott Reit, was the landlord of the former Park Hotel Clarke Quay property at Unity Street leased by PHCQ.
AH-Reit sought to claim, amongst other costs, rental and property tax payable from August 2021 to June 2023. PHCQ stopped paying rent in 2020 which resulted in AH-Reit terminating its lease in August 2021 and repossessing the property after PHCQ failed to pay around S$5.92 million in rent.
From August 2021 to September 2022, Ascott International Management (AIMPL), an entity related to AH-Reit, was appointed to manage the hotel. The building was leased to Ascott Hospitality Business Trust from October 2022, with AIMPL remaining as manager. The property is currently home to The Robertson House by The Crest Collection which officially opened in October 2023.
Under the lease, Ascott Hospitality Business Trust paid rent to AH-Reit while AH-Reit bore the property tax, Justice Lim noted.
The judge said she accepted that it was reasonable for AH-Reit to have arranged for AIMPL to manage the property and that it was reasonable for AH-Reit to lease the property to Ascott Hospitality Business Trust.
However she added: 'Neither AH-Reit nor the liquidators have explained why AH-Reit did not impose the obligation to pay property tax on Ascott Hospitality Business Trust.. Nor why the tax was borne by AH-Reit.
'That the Ascott Hospitality Business Trust lease did not include an obligation on Ascott Hospitality Business Trust to bear the property tax is to be contrasted with the lease wherein PHCQ bore such an obligation.'
'AH-Reit appears to have treated AHBT more favourably (compared to PHCQ) by not imposing an obligation on AHBT to pay property tax, only to then claim the property tax from PHCQ instead.'
The liquidators' acceptance of AH-Reit's property tax claim, without any scrutiny it would seem, was unsatisfactory, Justice Lim said.
As a result, the High Court judge reduced AH-Reit's proof of debt by S$273,792 in property tax it was claiming for the period from October 2022 to June 2023.
She also ruled that some of the items the Reit sought to claim under costs for replacement had insufficient evidence to prove that they were remedial works that fell within PHCQ's obligations under its lease.
Nanthini Vijayakumar from TSMP Law was the lead counsel representing Allen Law, while Allen & Gledhill's Lee Bik Wei and her team acted on behalf of the liquidators. The case continues.
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Ms Ho, a former Ministry of Education secondary school teacher, took the English and literature O-level exams in 2013 because she wanted to be 'really in touch' with the syllabus changes that year. She was working as a private tutor by then, and was not briefed by education authorities on the changes, unlike school teachers. After 12 years of taking O-level papers and having had the jitters while waiting for the oral exam, she knows how to advise her own students, some of whom have told her they 'blank out' during the exam, or get palpitations when they feel anxious. She guides them on how to stay calm during the oral exam, by teaching them square breathing, also known as box breathing. This deep-breathing relaxation technique involves inhaling, holding one's breath and exhaling for equal counts, typically for four seconds each time. Ms Ho Meng Yeng, a former Ministry of Education secondary school teacher, took the English and literature O-level exams in 2013 because she wanted to be 'really in touch' with the syllabus changes that year. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG She has views on the type of pen to use because 'handwriting matters'. She recommends using a pen with a fine 0.38mm nib for English Paper 2 – all the better to cram more words in the space provided in the exam booklet – and a 0.5mm ballpoint pen that flows well for the masses of writing required in Paper 1. Going into battle together Mainly, the tutors say they take the O-level exams repeatedly to empathise more fully with their charges. Working through 10-year series, compilations of national examination papers like the O- and A-levels, pales in comparison to the 'live action' of the exam hall. Mr Lin, who has been a tuition teacher since his 20s, says: 'I experience the change in the way the questions are designed and phrased over the years. The 10-year series is helpful but the difference is doing it at your own pace and taking the exam under time pressure. I can understand what my students are going through.' 'After the exam is over, it's easier to discuss the paper and how we have done. I can tell lots of stories afterwards and remind them not to make mistakes. It's also useful to teach them about handling anxiety and time management,' he says, describing himself and his students as 'war mates'. Mr Lim, who took the English paper in 2023 and 2024, adds: 'The first time I took the O-level paper was an eye-opener. I thought, 'Most educators are war theorists.'' His right hand ached badly after the writing-heavy Paper 1 in the first English language exam he took, which features Situational Writing and Continuous Writing. Mr Ivan Lim took the English paper in 2023 and 2024. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG After decades out of school, he was asked to respond to a statement like 'All you need to succeed in life is a positive attitude'. Mr Lim realised then that the O levels are 'quite demanding in terms of students' maturity'. 'I doubt I was so introspective at 16,' he reflects. The grades a tuition teacher gets The three tutors' result certificates, seen by The Straits Times, are a sea of A grades, mostly A1s (75 per cent and higher), followed by A2s (70 to 74 per cent). Their grades dip, sometimes drastically, when they embark on what they call 'experiments' and 'challenges'. For instance, in 2020, Ms Ho decided to 'leave all the difficult questions blank', resulting in a C6 grade, which ranges from 50 to 54 per cent. 'It was like a wake-up call for the very weak students at the beginning of the following year,' she says. Mr Lin has tackled different self-imposed 'challenges' in the 10 years he has taken the exams, often in response to students' questions. In 2016, he took the English paper in addition to the two subjects he teaches, physics and chemistry. 'In science, we need to have a good command of English to express our answers well. English was my worst subject in school. I hope it can be a message to my students that as long as you're willing to continue to improve, you can still achieve,' says Mr Lin, who got an A2 that year for English. His worst English grade as a student was C6. Mr Linus Lin once took a combined social studies and history paper to see what it was like, since social studies did not exist as an O-level subject when he was young. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG In 2020, besides English, physics and chemistry, he took the biology O-level exam, a subject he had never studied in school, because his students often ask him if physics or biology is 'easier'. (He found the latter easier to score well in.) While he usually does not study for the exams since he teaches the subjects, he spent several days mugging for the biology paper, for which he got a B3. He once took a combined social studies and history paper to see what it was like, since social studies did not exist as an O-level subject when he was young. The O-level examination fees for private candidates differ according to subject and citizenship. For example, Singapore citizens pay $105 each for subjects such as English and chemistry, and $100 for a humanities subject like combined social studies and history. While Keynote Learning foots the bill for the subjects the tutors teach and take exams in, Mr Lin paid his own fees for subjects he does not teach, like English and humanities. Mr Lin, who has been mistaken for an invigilator during one of his papers, says: 'Every time I take the exams, I feel happy because it's like I am 16 again.'
