CIMB Bank Bhd v World Fuel Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd [2021] SGCA 19

The Singapore Court of Appeal ruled on issues relating to the authenticity and admissibility of a debenture as well as conflicting trade documents and set-off issues affecting receivables financing.

Facts

CIMB Bank Berhad ("Bank") provided banking facilities to Panoil Petroleum Pte Ltd ("Panoil") secured by a deed of debenture ("Debenture"). Pursuant to the Debenture, Panoil assigned to the Bank all its rights against World Fuel Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd ("WFS") in relation to certain marine fuel transactions ("Transactions"). When Panoil faced financial difficulties, the Bank issued a notice of assignment to WFS and exercised its rights under the Debenture as the legal assignee.

WFS refused to make payment to the Bank on the grounds that (a) the Transactions were governed by other agreements (including contracts of affreightment, a transportation agreement ("Umbrella Contracts") and an offset agreement ("Offset Agreement") (collectively, the "WFS Agreements")) which entitled WFS to set-off the sums due to Panoil, and (b) that it had in fact set off the entire sum by way of eight set-off notices issued to Panoil before the notice of assignment was issued.

The Bank contended that the receivables were still payable to the Bank as the Transactions were governed by the sales confirmations from Panoil to WFS ("Sales Confirmations") which incorporated by reference Panoil's standard terms and conditions ("Standard Terms"). The Standard Terms contained a prohibition against set-off.

The High Court Decision

The High Court dismissed the Bank's claim as the Bank had not proven that the Debenture was authentic. However, had authenticity been proven, the Sales Confirmations would have governed the Transactions and the prohibition against set-off would have applied.

The authenticity and admissibility of the Debenture

The Bank failed to prove the Debenture's authenticity due to its failure to call the signatories of the Debenture as witnesses. The High Court reiterated that merely producing an original of the Debenture did not prove its authenticity. Where available, direct evidence must be produced.

Whether the Debenture assigned to the Bank the rights under the Transactions

The Debenture had both specific and general assignment clauses. The terms "Receivables", "Goods" and "Relevant Agreements" used in the specific assignment clauses were capitalised and specifically defined in the Debenture. Conversely, the terms "contract rights", "receivables" and "debts" in the general assignment clauses were not. By not capitalising these terms, parties intended to distinguish them from their capitalised equivalents under the specific assignment clauses. Hence, the language of the general assignment clauses was sufficiently wide to assign Panoil's rights in relation to the Transactions with WFS as these were "contract rights" due and owing to Panoil.

Which documents governed the Transactions between Panoil and WFS

The High Court applied two rules in determining that the terms of the Sales Confirmations prevailed over the terms of the WFS Agreements and that accordingly, the prohibition against set-off applied to the Transactions:

  1. Battle of the forms: the Sales Confirmations were the final documents sent before the contract was performed. Therefore, the terms governing the Transactions were contained in the Sales Confirmations.
  2. The more specific document prevails over a less specific document, to the extent of their inconsistency: as the Sales Confirmations were the more specific documents (containing specific terms such as price, mode of payment and date of delivery) its terms prevailed over the WFS Agreements, which lacked any specific details relating to each Transaction.

The Court of Appeal Decision

The Court of Appeal dismissed the Bank's appeal. However in doing so, it reversed two of the High Court's key holdings and found that (a) the bank had proven the authenticity of the Debenture, and (b) WFS had successfully established its right of set-off. That the terms of the Debenture assigned Panoil's rights against WFS to the Bank was undisputed.

Authenticity and admissibility of the Debenture

The Court of Appeal agreed with the High Court that the mere production of the original Debenture was insufficient to establish its authenticity. However, the Court of Appeal diverged from the High Court and found that the authenticity of a document does not need to be proved by direct evidence. Thus, the Bank's failure to call the signatories of the Debenture as witnesses was not necessarily fatal. However, the impact of a failure to adduce direct evidence depended on various factors including the strength of the indirect or circumstantial evidence adduced, the reasons given for not adducing the direct evidence, and the strength of the direct evidence had it been adduced.

The Court then considered the circumstantial evidence available and found that the evidence overwhelmingly established that the Debenture was authentic. This included the registration of the Debenture with ACRA, the affixation of the common seal on the Debenture and the conduct of the Bank and Panoil in relation to the Debenture.

Whether WFS was entitled to exercise a right of set off

The Court of Appeal only considered whether WFS was entitled to rely on the Offset Agreement and found it unnecessary for WFS to rely on the Umbrella Contracts as well.

  1. Whether the Offset Agreement also governed the Transactions
    Whether the Offset Agreement governed the Transactions between Panoil and WFS depended on whether parties intended for them to do so. As the Offset Agreement was entered into "in consideration for entering into contracts for the supply, service, distribution and/or purchase of fuel products and/or marine lubricants" the Offset Agreement was a 'master contract' and was intended to apply to the Transactions. The Court of Appeal further noted that whilst explicit reference to the Offset Agreement in the Sales Confirmations would have been useful in determining whether the Offset Agreement applied to the Transactions, it was not necessary to do.
    Additionally, the fact that parties did not exercise their right of set-off for three years did not mean that the Offset Agreement did not apply because:
    1. The Bank did not plead that, by failing to set-off, WFS had waived its right or had been estopped from relying on its right to set off under the Offset Agreement; and
    2. Panoil had not objected to WFS' subsequent issuance of the eight notices of set-off.
  2. WFS' right of set-off – whether the Sales Confirmations or the Offset Agreement prevailed
    The Court of Appeal held that WFS was entitled to exercise its right of set-off under the Offset Agreement. The Court of Appeal applied the same principle as the High Court in that where there is a clear inconsistency in terms and the contract does not expressly provide an order of precedence, the more specific document ought to prevail over a standard form document, to the extent of their inconsistency. However, the Court of Appeal disagreed with the High Court's decision and held that the right of set-off in the Offset Agreement prevailed over the prohibition against set-off incorporated into the Sales Confirmations because:
    1. The Offset Agreement was the more specific document with regards to the right of set-off: The Offset Agreement was a short, one-page document focused only on the parties' right of set-off. In contrast, the prohibition against set-off was merely one provision in the Standard Terms which canvassed multiple issues.
    2. The Offset Agreement was signed by both parties: The Offset Agreement was signed and specifically agreed to by both parties. In contrast, the Standard Terms containing the prohibition against set-off was pre-printed and unilaterally issued by Panoil.

In this regard, the Court of Appeal declined to use the 'battle of the forms' approach on the basis that the Offset Agreement and Standard Terms were dissimilar documents. Unlike the Standard Terms, the Offset Agreement was not a pre-printed document unilaterally issued by WFS and unsigned by Panoil.

Conclusion and Learning Points

This case is a reminder of the evidentiary issues relating to the admission of documents in court. Where direct evidence is not used, strong circumstantial evidence is required to prove the authenticity of the document. 

More importantly, this case illustrates the complexities, pitfalls and risks of taking security over receivables arising from a complex trading relationship involving conflicting conduct and documentation. It is also important to understand the general legal principles relating to such issues as the facts of each case will be different. Where there are potential set-off or other third party issues, it should be addressed upfront with the company and its counterparties to have clarity on each parties' rights and obligations in relation to set-off and other third party issues.  Service of a notice of assignment of the receivables with an acknowledgement from the debtor is also useful although there may at times be commercial and practical constrains to do so.

Banks can also mitigate such risks with enhanced due diligence on (i) the modus operandi of the company's business and trading, (ii) the trading arrangements and course of dealing between parties, (iii) industry custom and practice and (iv) monitoring of the trading relationship and fund flows between the parties.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.