By K.C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent

SINGAPOREAN tycoon Sukamto Sia convinced a Hong Kong appeal court to reverse a lower court ruling and send a S$48 million suit to be heard in Singapore instead.

The Hong Kong appeal court on Monday also lifted a worldwide freeze on the assets of Mr Sia, 50, and co- defendant Lee Howe Yong worth about HK$277 million (S$52 million).

Both had been sued by the liquidators of Dynasty Line, an investment firm in Hong Kong, and had objected to Hong Kong as the hearing venue for the case.

The liquidators had sought to recover money they claim is due to the firm following a winding-up order in 2007.

Mr Sia held 80 per cent and Mr Lee, 20 per cent, of the firm's shares and both served as directors until August 2007.

The case against them stems from Dynasty's purchase of 28 million shares of Sun Cheong International, later renamed China Development Corporation, from seven creditors in 1996.

These shares were subsequently pledged as securities from April 1996 to November 1997 to four finance giants which later sold them off to recoup the money lent to third parties.

Three of the pledges to Commerzbank (South-east Asia), Societe General (Singapore Branch) and Creditanstalt Bankverein were made in Singapore, while the fourth to K.G. Investments (Asia) was made in Hong Kong.

The seven creditors sued for the shares sold to Dynasty for which they were never fully paid and sought damages from the duo, among other things.

The lower court's choice of Hong Kong as the venue turned on the fact that two preceding and related cases were held there.

These were the appointment of provisional liquidators for Dynasty Line by a Hong Kong court as well as the involvement of Mr Sia in another court case where he had given a witness statement.

But the Hong Kong appeal court said these were irrelevant considerations and did not address the basic question of whether Hong Kong was appropriate.

Hong Kong Judge of Appeal Peter Cheung said the liquidators had not given any factor of 'real and substantial connection to Hong Kong' for the trial to take place there.

The two defendants were not Hong Kong residents and operated from Singapore during the period in question. 'Three of the four pledges were also executed in Singapore,' the judge said.

He also noted that Mr Low Tuck Kwong, who funded the action, is not a Hong Kong resident but commutes between Singapore and Indonesia.

Added to this, the firm under liquidation, Dynasty Line, was a British Virgin Islands company with no office in Hong Kong.

'Hong Kong courts no doubt have the expertise to deal with a case such as this and can adjudicate it with efficiency. But this is not the test to be applied in (such) a matter,' said the judge.

The court also heard that Mr Sia was served with the court documents at the Hong Kong airport just before he was about to leave on Oct 6, 2007.

The whole drama as he refused to accept the papers and walked away from the process server was videotaped.

The judge said Mr Sia, who had no assets in Hong Kong, had shown that Singapore was the 'more appropriate forum'.

Among other things, the appeal court also noted the liquidators of Dynasty Line in the lower court had sought to sue in Hong Kong out of concern that Mr Lee is related to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and claimed 'it may not be able to obtain a fair hearing' in Singapore.

The judge said there was no need to address this issue as it was 'no longer pursued in this appeal'.

Indonesia-born Mr Sia, whose net worth at his peak was reported to be US$800 million (S$1.2 billion), is no newcomer to court litigation. He was jailed for three years in 2002 by a Honolulu court for fraud and bankruptcy.

Mr Sia was a former chairman of Singapore-listed property and trading firm Transmarco and once held a significant stake in hospital operator Parkway Holdings.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.