2005 Antrix-Devas deal : Singapore court dismisses India’s appeal against $101 million award to German firm

Deutsche Telekom has cited the cancellation of the deal as a violation of the 1995 Indo-German Bilateral Investment Treaty. The German firm moved courts in Singapore and the US for confirmation of the arbitration award even as the Swiss Federal Supreme Court rejected Indian appeals against the award.

“Three of the four grounds for resisting enforcement (namely, the pre-Investment argument, the indirect investment argument and the essential security interests argument) had been considered and dismissed by the tribunal during arbitration,” the Singapore court said in its last month order.

“As for the ‘illegality argument’, India argued by way of the 24 October 2016 letter to the Tribunal that the charges reflected in the CBI chargesheet warranted the suspension of the arbitration pending their resolution, but the Tribunal declined to accede to this,” the court said.

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court had also relied on the arbitration tribunal’s decision that a CBI corruption chargesheet against Devas and ISRO officials contained “only allegations and charges that were not yet decided”, the court observed.

“We are therefore satisfied that India is precluded from re-litigating the Illegality Argument, the Pre-Investment Argument, the Indirect Investment Argument and the Essential Security Interests Argument in the present appeal. That is sufficient to dispose of the appeal,” it said.

The Singapore court has also directed the Indian government to pay costs of $130,000 to Deutsche Telekom over the litigation.