Read the full judgment text of HCA 010174/1997 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 22 July 1999 before Godfrey, J.A..
Civil procedure – summary judgment – guarantee – proper law – PRC law – foreign exchange guarantee – prior approval – State Administration of Foreign Exchange – amount due – arbitration costs – deduction – partial judgment – unconditional leave to defend – Standard Chartered Bank v Shantou International Trust and Investment Corporation – HCA 10174/1997 – Court of First Instance – Godfrey J.A. – 22 July 1999 – The plaintiffs sought summary judgment on a guarantee dated 25 August 1988 given by the defendant to secure repayment of ¥1,640,625,000.00 plus interest by SEDC to Nissei, later assigned to Standard Chartered Bank. The defendant argued that under PRC Provisional Rules the guarantee required prior approval and might be invalid. The court held that a bare assertion without particulars was insufficient to resist summary judgment. However, the court considered the amount due: the plaintiff could not recover more than the assignor was entitled to, and payments by the principal debtor must be credited. Arbitration costs should not be deducted from the indebtedness. The court granted partial summary judgment for ¥23,929,262.81 with interest at 5.25%, gave liberty to take out the admitted sum of ¥12,175,113.76 paid into court, and granted unconditional leave to defend as to the balance.
Legal issues: Proper law of the guarantee · Amount due under the guarantee
Outcome: Partial summary judgment granted to the plaintiffs for ¥23,929,262.81 with interest at 5.25%; unconditional leave to defend granted to the defendant as to the balance of the claimed indebtedness.