Lee Swee Seng JCA:

[1] As is so often in the business world, and the construction industry is no exception, cash is king and cash flow is critical. Often times a contractor who has done work and is not paid, would seek various means to recover payment. Some may issue a winding up notice followed by a petition to wind up.

[2] Others would proceed to commence a civil action and to obtain summary judgment for work done, and more so when a certificate of payment had been issued. Some would proceed with adjudication under the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 ("CIPAA") and then thereafter, to enforce the Adjudication Decision as if it is a judgment of the Court and many, armed with an enforcement order under s 28 of the CIPAA, would proceed with a winding up petition to recover what is presumably a debt no longer in dispute.

[3] However in this case it is the employer who is the petitioner in a construction contract, petitioning to wind up its contractor on ground that the contractor had repudiated the contract and that there is a certain sum representing an advance payment, which the employer having received it from its principal, had passed on the contractor