Hari Veluri
Counsel
Hari is a Counsel with the Firm, and regularly acts for high net-worth individuals, local and foreign companies and multi-national corporations in a wide variety of complex corporate and commercial disputes. He has considerable experience in high-value litigation matters with a special focus on shareholder disputes, claims involving oppression and breaches of trust and fiduciary duties, and matters relating to trusts and commercial fraud.
Hari has acted as lead and assisting counsel at all levels of the Singapore Courts, in international arbitrations, and before special tribunals where he has faced senior lawyers, both from Singapore and the UK. These include arguing a heavily contested worldwide freezing order before the High Court, and appearing as lead counsel in an international arbitration against a leading international firm. Hari’s experience also extends to advising financial institutions on investigations.
Prior to joining Providence Law Asia, Hari worked at several leading firms in Singapore. Hari also spent a short stint at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London, where he assisted various financial institutions with their regulatory investigations and applications.
Hari graduated from the National University of Singapore with an L.L.B (Hons). While studying at the National University of Singapore, Hari participated in the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition in The Hague, Netherlands, where he was issued two awards for his oral advocacy in the competition: the Best Victims’ Legal Representative and the Overall Best Oralist for the Preliminary Rounds.
Hari also actively volunteers with the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme in Singapore to take on criminal cases on a pro bono basis. Hari also regularly assists in guest judging university moot teams preparing for international competitions.
Hari is fluent in English, and is conversant in Hindi, Telugu and French.
Admissions
- Advocate and Solicitor, Supreme Court of Singapore
Professional Experience
- Acted for the defendant in successfully defending claims for minority oppression relating to the “Tong Garden” snack food business, both before the High Court and the Court of Appeal: Ong Heng Chuan v Ong Teck Chuan [2020] SGHC 161, [2020] SGCA 41.
- Acted for the plaintiffs in successfully claiming for breach of a contractual consent order relating to a joint venture to develop land in “Turf City”. The Court of Appeal considered for the first time the applicability of Wrotham Park damages in Singapore (i.e. an exceptional remedy in situations where traditional compensatory damages are unavailable): Turf Club Auto Emporium Pte Ltd v Yeo Boong Hua [2018] SGCA 44.
- Acted for an Italian company specialising in security technology in successfully restraining the opposing party from relying on confidential solicitor-client emails which had been uploaded onto Wikileaks: Wee Shuo Woon v HT SRL [2017] SGCA 23.
- Acted for the defendant in a dispute between the sons of the founder of the “Swee Kee” chicken rice restaurant in successfully resisting a claim for alleged trust property worth $16 million. See Moh Tai Siang v Moh Tai Tong [2018] SGHC 280. Acted as lead counsel before the Court of Appeal and successfully resisted an application by the opposing party to stay the appeal proceedings.
- Acted for the defendants in a claim for breach of fiduciary duties by the plaintiff company. Successfully resisted subsequent bankruptcy proceedings by the plaintiff company on the grounds that the value of the second defendant’s shares in the company (in liquidation) could potentially exceed the judgment sum. See On Line Mobile Pte Ltd v Tan Mei Lian [2020] SGHCR 5.
- Assisted in acting for supplier of electronic goods in successfully appealing claims for passing off and copyright infringement to the Court of Appeal. A unique feature of the case was the Court’s analysis of the law of passing off where both the client and the counterparty sold their goods to middlemen in Singapore for export to end-users in Africa: Singsung Pte Ltd v LG 26 Electronics Pte Ltd [2016] SGCA 33.
- Acted as lead counsel on behalf of a global chain of luxury resorts in an arbitration commenced against them by a Swiss hotelier. Successfully resisted claims of fraudulent misrepresentation made against the client and its CEO.
- Acted for a Singaporean company in an arbitration commenced against it by an Indian party for damages purportedly arising from delayed shipment of commodities.
- Appeared as lead counsel and successfully obtained a worldwide freezing order up to approximately US$10m in a heavily contested application before the High Court. The application involved the freezing of (among other) cryptocurrency assets held in digital wallets and/or exchanges. The value of the assets in dispute was US$9.7 million: The Micro Tellers Network Limited v Cheng Yi Han [2020] SGHC 130.
- Acted for the founder of the “PPP” brand of aesthetic medical clinics in defending multiple suits totalling around $50 million for breach of duty and fraudulent misrepresentation. Successfully assisted in appealing to the Court of Appeal to overturn freezing orders as well as an order for discovery of the defendant’s banking documents: Goh Seng Heng v Liberty Sky Investments Ltd and another [2017] SGCA 59.
- Acted for individual directors of a public listed company in disciplinary proceedings brought by the Singapore
Exchange Securities Trading Limited. - Advised a leading cryptocurrency exchange in relation to potential investigations by the authorities in Singapore.
- Assisted in preparing a judicial review application on behalf of a financial institution against a regulatory decision by the UK Companies House.