A REVIEW OF THE SETTING ASIDE OF ADJUDICATION DETERMINATION UNDER THE SECURITY OF PAYMENT ACT DUE TO BREACH OF THE RULES OF NATURAL JUSTICE AND FRAUD

Abstract

Natural justice has two principles which are the rule against bias and the fair hearing rule, a decision maker should strictly comply with the above two principles to ensure that a fair decision is being made. When fraud is established such as knowingly presenting a false claim will lead to the setting aside of ADs. A breach of the rules of natural justice and fraud requires a high threshold to establish. The Singapore Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act (“SOPA”) assists construction sector’s stakeholders to resolve their payment disputes within a short time period through adjudication. Some parties may be dissatisfied with the outcome of the adjudication determination (“AD”), and it could be set aside on grounds such as a breach of the rules of natural justice and fraud. Many choose to set aside the AD, but few succeed. An unsuccessful setting aside application can be time consuming and unhelpful for the parties as SOPA only enjoys temporary finality features, they are able to resolve their disputes in other dispute resolution methods. The scope of this dissertation is narrowed down to setting aside of AD due to a breach of the rules of natural justice and fraud. This dissertation will compare between the successful and unsuccessful setting aside applications then recommend improvements to SOPA.