Torsten Cheong.png

Torsten Cheong

Partner, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP

Practice Area:

Appeals & Issues
Commercial Litigation

BA Jurisprudence (First Class Honours), University of Oxford
Advocate & Solicitor, Singapore

T +65 6232 0555
E torsten.cheong@rajahtann.com

Torsten has a broad-based commercial disputes practice. He has particular expertise in complex high-value litigation, international arbitration and appellate advocacy, and significant experience in banking, shareholder, insolvency and hospitality disputes.

Torsten has acted for and advised a variety of commercial, institutional and individual clients, including Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 businesses, technology conglomerates, financial institutions, liquidators and receivers, global hospitality brands, professional services firms, real estate developers and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

Before joining Rajah & Tann in 2019, Torsten clerked for the Chief Justice of Singapore and served as a State Counsel and Deputy Public Prosecutor in the Attorney-General’s Chambers where he advised the Government and prosecuted narcotics and serious sexual offences.

In 2021, Torsten was appointed to the Supreme Court’s Young Amicus Curiae Scheme and was commended by the Chief Justice for being “of considerable assistance to [the Court], and indeed to all parties, with his diligent research and thoughtful submissions” for his role as amicus curiae in a Magistrate’s Appeal.

Torsten obtained his law degree with First Class Honours from Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won various academic and mooting prizes including the Norton Rose Fulbright Prize for the best undergraduate journal submission on private law and the UK championship of the 2014 Philip C Jessup Moot.

Notable Cases & Transactions

Torsten has acted in many disputes that are of high-value and commercial or public significance and involve complex issues of fact and law. Here are a few:

  • Acting for a professional trust company in a claim brought in the SICC by the former Prime Minister of Georgia for damages exceeding US$1 billion.
  • Acting for the liquidators and private trustees of Agritrade International Pte Ltd and its director-owner in an appeal involving novel questions on transactions at an undervalue (Rothstar Group Ltd v Leow Quek Shiong [2022] 2 SLR 158).
  • Acting for UOB in a cross-border debt-recovery claim exceeding US$180 million which gave rise to the first Court of Appeal decision applying the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (United Securities Sdn Bhd v United Overseas Bank Ltd [2021] 2 SLR 950).
  • Acting for PwC in a claim alleging the negligent conduct of a forensic investigation into Chinese investments made by an SGX-listed company (Tan Woo Thian v PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services Pte Ltd [2021] 1 SLR 1166).
  • Acting for the subsidiary of an SGX-listed energy company in a claim under a US$250 million repo agreement which gave rise to a landmark judgment on the standard for disputing an arbitrable debt to resist winding-up (AnAn Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd v VTB Bank (Public Joint Stock Co) [2020] 1 SLR 1158).
  • Acting for receivers appointed under a debenture securing US$1.68 billion in syndicated loans, in claims by trade creditors including BP and Glencore involving issues of set-off and de-crystallisation of floating charges (BP Singapore Pte Ltd v Jurong Aromatics Pte Ltd [2020] 1 SLR 627).
  • Acting for the majority shareholders of the Samwoh Group in a dispute over the application of valuation discounts in a share buy-out following a compromised oppression claim (Liew Kit Fah v Koh Keng Chew [2020] 1 SLR 275).
  • Acting for the Prosecution in the landmark case setting out the sentencing framework for the offence of rape (Ng Kean Meng Terence v Public Prosecutor [2017] 2 SLR 449).
  • Acting for a global hospitality brand in a dispute with a Singapore based owner of a luxury hotel in a SIAC arbitration.
  • Acting for a state-owned luxury hotel chain in a dispute with a Maldives based owner of an island resort in a SIAC arbitration.
  • Acting for a trade finance bank in a dispute with a multinational commodities trading company in a LCIA arbitration.

Memberships/Directorships

  • Member, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
  • Member, Young Lawyers’ Committee of the Law Society of Singapore
  • Member, Law Awareness Committee of Pro Bono SG
  • Volunteer, Criminal Legal Aid Scheme of Pro Bono SG

Publications

  • Updated the chapters on Negotiable Instruments, Letters of Credit and Lending and Security in “Finance and Banking”, Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore (2022)