“He is truly exceptional and most certainly among the best in the market thanks to his extensive prosecution experience and commercial litigation expertise.” – Who’s Who Legal
Hamidul Haq joined Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP as a Partner after his extensive experience in white collar crime with the Attorney-General’s Chambers (“AGC”) and the Commercial Affairs Department (“CAD”).
Haq’s eminent standing is affirmed by his consistent recognition in global legal directories, including:
- Band 1 – Chambers Asia-Pacific: Corporate Investigations/ Anti-Corruption (since 2018)
- Global Elite Thought Leader – Who’s Who Legal: Business Crime Defence (2024)
- Global Elite Thought Leader – Who’s Who Legal: Investigations (2024)
- Leading Individual – The Legal 500: White Collar Crime (2024)
- Litigation Star – Benchmark Litigation Asia Pacific: White Collar Crime (2024)
- Leading Corporate Crime Lawyer of the Year – Leading Adviser Awards (2022)
- Leading Adviser – Global 100: Fraud and White Collar Crime (2023, 2020)
In addition, Haq is praised by market sources as “a capable Singapore criminal law-facing guy, very impressive”, and “the go-to guy when we’ve got ugly Singapore issues.”
Haq was a Deputy Senior State Counsel/Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Criminal Justice Division, AGC. His work involved prosecution matters and giving advice on corporate and securities cases including civil penalty actions for market misconduct under the Securities and Futures Act (“SFA”).
Heading the Legal Department in the CAD for eight years, Haq dealt with many high profile commercial and securities cases against top Senior Counsel of the Singapore Bar and Queen’s Counsel from various Commonwealth jurisdictions.
His area of practice has bolstered the Commercial Litigation Practice in its strength and dominance in the legal circle, particularly in securities offences, business crimes, anti-money laundering, fraud and asset seizure litigation.
Haq’s area of work also covers advice to corporates or disclosure obligations as well as money laundering matters under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking, Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act; either in respect of confiscation of assets or advising on legislation.
Haq presently heads the Indonesian Desk of Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, to develop Indonesian related legal matters in several areas: arbitration / dispute resolution, corporate / M&A, strategic advisory matters, oil, gas, energy sectors and the telecommunication industry. He has been working on several arbitration matters related to large Indonesian entities and the State and was involved as a counsel in an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) arbitration on behalf of the Indonesian government.
EXPERIENCE
- Representing various companies involved in the Petrobas (Brazil) matters in cross-border investigations.
- Advising on 1MDB related matters and defending in prosecutions in Singapore .
- Acting for an ongoing high-profile internal inquiry involving Wirecard AG, a German-listed online global payment giant into fraud allegations.
- Large cigarette manufacturing company advertising case: Successfully defended the company in a prosecution by Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
- Advising one of the world’s leading accounting firms in relation to judicial management issues and in asset tracing of over US$30 million.
- Representing the employees of a large US company with a subsidiary in Singapore, in relation to a prosecution of one of its Group Accountants by CAD for misappropriation of over US$10 million.
- Advising a large global financial advisory organisation in relation to investigation of a publicly-listed company for financial mismanagement.
- Advising a large Indonesian Group in the construction industry on possible arbitration in Singapore in relation to their supply agreement.
- Advising an Indonesian energy related company on an arbitration in Singapore in relation to a Sales & Purchase Agreement.
- Advising foreign law firms acting on behalf of corporate institutions regarding reporting and disclosure obligations in Singapore in relation to criminal conduct suspicions discovered during due diligence exercises in Singapore.
- Advising foreign parties in relation to production and restraint orders for bank accounts under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act (“MACMA”) and the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (“CDSA”) and anti-money laundering issues.
- Defending officers of a publicly-listed company in respect of market misconduct and insider trading in various CAD and Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) investigations.
- Advising the directors of an international company on issues relating to the MACMA involving a criminal investigation in another Commonwealth jurisdiction.
- Representing the directors of a publicly-listed company in Singapore in relation to allegations of improprieties found in an auditor’s report.
- Representing a European financial institution in relation to market misconduct investigations by MAS in civil penalty proceedings.
- Acting for several trading representatives of an Asian securities company in relation to market misconduct investigations by CAD.
- Advising the directors of an international multi-million dollar company in respect of extradition matters involving non-Commonwealth countries.
- Extradition case involving four Singaporeans requested for extradition to the United States of America to face charges of conspiring to defraud the US government (Represented three out of the four Singaporeans).
- Extradition case involving an Indonesian businessman requested for extradition to Australia to face charges of foreign bribery.
- Advising on the forfeiture of bank accounts under a foreign government request under MACMA.
- Advising the Government of Indonesia in relation to an ICSID proceeding in 2014.
- Representing a client in the Court of Appeal on a ground breaking unlawful detention case for global match fixing.
- Representing various officers of a shipbuilding & marine company in Singapore in relation to Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) investigations for corruption and false accounting.
- Advising clients in an internal corporate investigation in response to a US Department of Justice probe.
- Advising in the first ever negligent corporate money-laundering case in Singapore under S59 CDSA.
MEMBERSHIPS / DIRECTORSHIPS
- Co-Principal Examiner – Singapore Institute of Legal Education, Foreign Practitioner Examination
- Deputy Chairman, Disciplinary Committee – Singapore Exchange Limited (Nov 2011 to 2017)
- Disciplinary Panel, ICE Futures Singapore
- Member, Appeals Board ~ Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Judicial appointment)
- Prosecutor, Anti-Doping Singapore (ADS)
- Prosecutor, Southeast Asia Regional Anti-Doping Organization (Sea RADO)
- Ex-member, Anti-Corruption Committee Asia Pacific, International Bar Association and Asset Recovery Sub-Committee
- Member, Singapore Hockey Federation Disciplinary Committee
- Member, Football Association of Singapore Ethics Committee
- Member, Singapore Silat Federation Disciplinary Committee
- Member, Singapore Institute of Arbitrators
PUBLICATIONS
- Contributor, Business Crime Laws and Regulations Guide, Singapore Chapter, Global Legal Group (2024)
- Co-Authored the book “Financial Crimes in Singapore” 1st edition (2014) and 2nd edition (2018) Lexis Nexis
- Co-authored the Singapore Chapter of the “Anti-corruption Laws and Regulations“ 2018 (A Global Guide)
- Authored the “International Encyclopedia Of Sports Law (Singapore) 2019” Wolters Kluwer
- Authored the Singapore chapter of the book, Finance, Rule of Law and Development in Asia: Perspectives from Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai for Asia Finance Book (2015)
- Authored the paper “Cracking the Whip on Financial Crimes” for Asia Symposium in Shanghai (2014)
- Authored the Singapore Chapter of the ICLG Business Crime (2012).
- Authored the Singapore Chapter of the Guide to Anti-Corruption Regulation in Asia (2011)
