Summary

Introduction

The context of this application is rather peculiar, but it raises an issue of civil procedure that is of considerable practical importance. In essence, the applicant's principal complaint is that the judge below recorded, in his notes of the hearing, a submission by the respondent's counsel that the applicant alleges was never made. Is the applicant entitled to raise the issue and, if so, how should this be done?

An important piece of context is that the applicant has not placed the allegation of error and the evidence supporting its contention before the judge. Instead, what the applicant has done is to file an appeal against the judge's decision to this court and seek leave via this application to adduce further evidence in the form of the notes taken by its solicitors of the hearings before the judge, with a view to challenging the veracity of the judge's notes in the appeal. The question of principle that therefore arises is whether this course of action is the correct, or at least a permissible, approach.

The applicant, Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, applied to the General Division of the High Court in HC/OA 346/2024 ("OA 346") seeking to set aside an arbitral award on various grounds including breach of natural justice. OA 346 was heard together with HC/SUM 988/2024 ("SUM 988"), which was also an application by the applicant, albeit to set aside an earlier order granting leave to the respondent, Joint Stock Company (Power Machines - ZTL, LMZ, Electrosila Energomachexport), to enforce the award.

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