SpaceSATS Pte Ltd v Chan Chia Sern: Contempt of Court & Disobedience of Order

In SpaceSATS Pte Ltd v Chan Chia Sern, the High Court of Singapore found Dr. Chan Chia Sern, the first defendant and director of Plasma Innovation Labs Pte Ltd, in contempt of court for disobeying a court order. The order required Dr. Chan to deliver personal laptops and external storage devices, transfer administration of a Vodien account, and add CorpPass administrators. The court sentenced Dr. Chan to two months' imprisonment for breaches related to the laptops, storage devices, and Vodien account, and imposed a fine of $2,000 for the CorpPass account breach. The plaintiff, SpaceSATS Pte Ltd, sought the committal order.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

General Division of the High Court

1.2 Outcome

Dr. Chan was sentenced to imprisonment and fined for contempt of court.

1.3 Case Type

Civil

1.4 Judgment Type

Judgment

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

Dr. Chan was found in contempt of court for disobeying a court order to deliver laptops, transfer accounts, and appoint administrators.

1.7 Decision Date

20 February 2023

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
SpaceSATS Pte Ltd	Plaintiff, Defendant in Counterclaim	Corporation	Judgment for Plaintiff	Won	Sambhavi Rajangam of CNPLaw LLP See Tow Soo Ling of CNPLaw LLP
Chan Chia Sern	Defendant, Plaintiff in Counterclaim	Individual	Contempt of Court	Lost	Lee Mei Yong Debbie of Millennium Law LLC
Plasma Innovation Labs Pte Ltd	Defendant, Plaintiff in Counterclaim	Corporation	Contempt of Court	Lost	Lee Mei Yong Debbie of Millennium Law LLC
Xu Luxiang	Defendant	Individual	No specific outcome	Neutral
Oleksii Cherkun (Alex)	Defendant	Individual	No specific outcome	Neutral
Wei Deyuan	Defendant	Individual	No specific outcome	Neutral
Huang Shiyong	Defendant, Plaintiff in Counterclaim	Individual	No specific outcome	Neutral
Black Diamond Capital Pte Ltd	Defendant in Counterclaim, Plaintiff in Counterclaim	Corporation	No specific outcome	Neutral
Goh Wei Jie	Defendant in Counterclaim	Individual	No specific outcome	Neutral

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
S Mohan	Judge	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Sambhavi Rajangam	CNPLaw LLP
See Tow Soo Ling	CNPLaw LLP
Lee Mei Yong Debbie	Millennium Law LLC

4. Facts

Plaintiff is a joint venture between Plasma Innovation Labs Pte Ltd and Black Diamond Capital Pte Ltd.
Dr. Chan was the plaintiff’s Chief Executive Officer and is the sole director and shareholder of PILS.
Plaintiff suspected its intellectual property rights were not being properly secured.
Plaintiff commenced action against the defendants for breaches of agreements to maintain confidentiality and surrender IPRs.
The Order required Dr Chan to deliver up personal laptops and external storage devices.
The Order required Dr Chan to transfer the administration of the Vodien account to Mr Goh.
The Order required Dr Chan to add Mr Goh and the plaintiff’s company secretary as CorpPass administrators.

5. Formal Citations

SpaceSATS Pte Ltd v Chan Chia Sern and others, Suit No 349 of 2020 (Summons No 5179 of 2021), [2023] SGHC 40

6. Timeline

Date	Event
2020-04-15	Plaintiff commenced action against the defendants.
2020-06-23	Plaintiff wrote to the defendants to recover SpaceSATS laptops.
2020-07-04	Plaintiff recovered SpaceSATS laptops.
2020-07-06	Plaintiff applied for summary judgment.
2021-07-12	Order was granted by Chan Seng Onn J.
2021-07-27	Order was extracted.
2021-07-28	Order was served personally on Dr Chan.
2021-10-07	Plaintiff filed application for leave to commence committal proceedings.
2021-11-02	Leave was granted to commence committal proceedings.
2021-11-09	Plaintiff filed SUM 5179.
2022-01-17	Hearing adjourned to allow Dr Chan time to regularise matters.
2022-02-01	Plaintiff garnished remaining sums.
2022-08-05	Resumed hearing; SUM 1697 dismissed.
2022-10-17	Hearing on SUM 5179; judgment reserved.
2022-12-07	Parties tendered further submissions.
2022-12-21	Parties tendered further submissions.
2023-02-21	Judgment reserved.

7. Legal Issues

Contempt of Court
- Outcome: Dr. Chan was found liable for contempt of court for intentionally breaching the court order.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Disobedience of court order
  - Sentencing for contempt of court
Breach of Court Order
- Outcome: The court found that Dr. Chan failed to comply with the order to deliver laptops and storage devices, transfer the Vodien account, and add CorpPass administrators.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Failure to deliver personal laptops and external storage devices
  - Failure to transfer administration of Vodien account
  - Failure to add CorpPass administrators

8. Remedies Sought

Committal to prison
Fine

9. Cause of Actions

Contempt of Court
Breach of Court Order

10. Practice Areas

Civil Litigation

11. Industries

No industries specified

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
PT Sandipala Arthaputra v STMicroelectronics Asia Pacific Pte Ltd and others	Singapore Court of Appeal	Yes	[2018] 4 SLR 828	Singapore	Cited for the principle that the mens rea requirement for contempt of court is set to a low threshold.
Mok Kah Hong v Zheng Zhuan Yao	Singapore Court of Appeal	Yes	[2016] 3 SLR 1	Singapore	Cited for the procedural steps in committal proceedings.
Tan Teck Kee v Ratan Kumar Rai	Singapore Court of Appeal	Yes	[2022] SGCA 62	Singapore	Cited for the importance of service in contempt proceedings.
OCM Opportunities Fund II, LP and others v Burhan Uray (alias Wong Ming Kiong) and others	Singapore High Court	Yes	[2005] 3 SLR(R) 60	Singapore	Cited for the principle that a court can exercise its powers under Order 45 rule 7(7) retrospectively.
Maruti Shipping Pte Ltd v Tay Sien Djim and others	Singapore High Court	Yes	[2014] SGHC 227	Singapore	Cited for the principle that the court can dispense with the requirement of service as the contemnor was aware of the orders’ terms and alive to the consequences of non-compliance.
Ho Seow Wan v Ho Poey Wee and others	Singapore High Court	Yes	[2015] SGHC 235	Singapore	Cited for the principle that the court will consider all circumstances, including in particular whether the defendant was already aware of or ought to have been aware of the order’s terms at the time of non-compliance.
Sembcorp Marine Ltd v Aurol Anthony Sabastian	Singapore Court of Appeal	Yes	[2013] 1 SLR 245	Singapore	Cited for factors that weigh in favor of imprisonment in contempt of court cases.
Brightex Paints (S) Pte Ltd v Tan Ongg Seng (in his personal capacity and trading as Starlit(S) Trading) and others	Singapore High Court	Yes	[2019] SGHC 116	Singapore	Cited as an instructive case for sentencing in contempt of court cases involving breach of confidentiality and delivery up orders.
Technigroup Far East Pte Ltd and another v Jaswinderpal Singh s/o Bachint Singh and others	Singapore High Court	Yes	[2018] 3 SLR 1391	Singapore	Cited as a case where a four-month prison term was imposed for repeated breaches of specific discovery orders.

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
Rules of Court (Cap 322, R 5, 2014 Rev Ed)
Order 45 rule 7(2)(b) of the Rules of Court (Cap 332, R 5, 2014 Rev Ed)
Order 45 rule 7(7) of the ROC
Order 45 rule 7(6)

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
Administration of Justice (Protection) Act 2016	Singapore
Administration of Justice (Protection) Act 2016	Singapore
Administration of Justice (Protection) Act 2016	Singapore

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Contempt of court
Committal proceedings
Vodien account
CorpPass administrators
Personal laptops
External storage devices
Delivery up
Breach of order
Intentional disobedience

15.2 Keywords

Contempt
Court Order
Disobedience
Laptops
Vodien
CorpPass
Singapore
High Court

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Contempt of Court	95
Judgments and Orders	70
Civil Procedure	60
Company Law	30

16. Subjects

Contempt of Court
Civil Procedure
Legal Enforcement