Christopher Sontchi IJ, sitting in the Singapore International Commercial Court (“SICC”), has released his written reasons in Re PT Sri Rejeki Isman Tbk [2026] SGHC(I) 16, recognising the Indonesian bankruptcy of the Sritex group under the UNCITRAL Model Law as enacted in Singapore Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act (“IRDA”). Earlier recognition orders here have covered Indonesian PKPU restructurings and personal bankruptcies, but not a corporate bankruptcy.
Sritex was Southeast Asia’s largest vertically integrated textile manufacturer. Its restructuring failed, an Indonesian court declared the group bankrupt, and its court-appointed curators came to Singapore to find out what became of US$725m raised through notes listed on the SGX. RCLT Law Corporation acted for the curators in the SICC.
The Court granted two further orders that made a practical difference.
The first stopped secured creditors from enforcing their security without either coming to court or obtaining the curators’ consent. That is unusual, because lenders holding security normally sit outside an insolvency and can enforce regardless. Here, several of the group’s former personnel had been arrested for fraud and embezzlement and a great deal of money was unaccounted for, which raised concerns that security granted might later be found to be illegitimate.
The second gave the curators a general power to investigate the group’s affairs in Singapore, rather than requiring them to name particular banks or advisers and obtain orders against each of them. That distinction matters in practice. Until an office-holder has something from the court, the people holding the information are entitled to decline to hand it over, and often do.
The RCLT Team was led by Rabin Kok, and the Court noted his “able assistance”. He appeared with RCLT’s Joint Managing Director Remy Choo Zheng Xi, together with an instructing team comprising Sean Lee, Derrick Teo and Hui Xuan Lock of Delta Law Corporation. Rabin is also a Commercial Barrister at South Square Chambers and qualified to practice in the British Virgin Islands.