Abraham Vergis

LL.B (Hons), National University of Singapore

Representative Arbitration Experience (Infrastructure, Energy and Transport Disputes) Abraham has acted as counsel in construction and engineering disputes in the infrastructure, energy, and transport space. Abraham’s past experience includes; 80-day multi-party construction and engineering arbitration in Singapore concerning the partial collapse of Southeast Asia’s tallest multi-cell cement silo. Abraham acted for the main contractors, who were being sued alongside the silo designer and the accredited checker. A technically challenging case involving complex civil and structural engineering issues addressed by an international panel of 14 expert witnesses; Represented the main contractors in termination claims against the concessionaire of a multi-billion-dollar airport reconstruction project for an Indian Ocean republic. The client is a prominent South-Asian infrastructure conglomerate with a track record of airport construction projects in India, the Philippines, and Turkey; 25-day construction arbitration under ICC Rules in Bangkok between a Malaysian boilermaker and a prominent Thai mill owner concerning construction defects in a palm oil refinery in Thailand; SIAC arbitration in respect of claims exceeding USD150 million against a sovereign government for repudiating a 50-year joint venture agreement for the development of a lagoon, with claims for aborted reclamation and infrastructure development works; Multi-party litigation before the Singapore International Commercial Court involving a failed joint venture with Singapore and PRC entities to develop an RMB3 billion Winter Theme Park, with Olympic-accredited ski slopes and resort project in Shanghai; Crime, compliance & Internal Investigations; Acted in a multi-jurisdictional fraud case involving misappropriation of several million dollars by two senior executives in a Kazakhstan subsidiary of a Singapore company, and diversion of proceeds to Hong Kong, Ahmedabad and Liechtenstein. Abraham directed the fraud investigations in Almaty and Singapore, which culminated in worldwide freezing orders and legal action in the Singapore High Court; Directed and coordinated multi-disciplinary investigations for a leading airport operator in India against a former director in respect of suspected conflict of interest and other serious irregularities, which led to Singapore High Court proceedings, which were subsequently settled favorably; Instructed by a foreign Government to investigate substantial hospital bills rendered by a southeast Asian hospital in respect of treatment rendered to a group of foreign patients; Investigations revealed that the hospital had systematically overcharged the foreign government millions of dollars, which directly resulted in an amicable settlement based on substantial discounting of all outstanding hospital bills; Secured two acquittals for a Singapore lawyer in two separate trials on serious charges of perjury and corruption, allegedly committed in the course of his practice as an advocate & solicitor; Secured an acquittal in the High Court for a client who had been charged with 5 counts of sexual offenses against a teenage girl; Secured an acquittal for the client who had been charged with over claiming GST tax refunds from IRAS

The International Academy of Financial Litigators; Singapore sole representative Singapore Academy of Law; International Promotion of Singapore Law Committee: Appointed by Justice VK Rajah to promote the use of Singapore law and Singapore as a venue for arbitration in cross-border disputes in South Asia; Law Reform Committee: Appointed by Justice Vinodh Coomaraswamy, and Judith Prakash to consider law reforms in the area of arbitration law; Professional Affairs Committee: Appointed by Solicitor-General Lionel Yee to contribute to the Professional Values Chapter Law Society of Singapore; Chairman, Law Society’s Criminal Legal Aid Scheme; Served as Chairman of the Law Society’s Investigative Tribunal for Inadequate Professional Services Subordinate Courts; Principal Mediator, Primary Dispute Resolution Centre

Was named “Singapore Managing Partner of the Year” and shortlisted for “Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year” at the Asian Legal Business SE Awards 2019; Abraham was a finalist for “Asia’s Dispute Star of the Year” at the AsiaLaw and Benchmark Litigation Asia Pacific Dispute Resolution Awards in 2017 and 2018; Chambers and Partners has ranked Abraham amongst the top twenty litigators in Singapore since 2016; Legal 500 recognizes Abraham as a “Leading Lawyer” in the dispute resolution arena. Under Abraham’s leadership, Providence Law Asia has attained multiple accolades, including being awarded “Best Dispute Resolution Boutique Practice of the Year in Southeast Asia” in 2017, “Rising Law Firm of the Year” in 2018, and a finalist for “Singapore Litigation Law Firm of the Year in 2019”, at the annual Asian Legal Business SE Asia Awards

Senior Counsel, Supreme Court of Singapore Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Fellow, Asian Institute of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Principal Mediator, Singapore Mediation Centre

www.providencelawasia.com/