I

ndonesian conglomerate Lippo Group was defeated by its former partner Astro Group in an arbitration tribunal over a failed joint pay-tv business venture.

The Singapore High Court ruled on Tuesday that it upheld a US$250 million arbitration award — a judgment in arbitration tribunal — for Astro All Asia Network Plc, owned by Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan.

 The decision was made after Lippo did not oppose a three-member arbitration tribunal, which ruled against Lippo in 2010.

Once the time limit passes, the tribunal’s decision is taken as accepted by the parties and there is no possibility of further recourse, according to Singapore High Court justice Belinda Ang as quoted by Bloomberg.

Lippo’s lawyer Toby Landau has said that the limit to oppose the arbitration award didn’t apply in the case and that the company never agreed to arbitration. Executives of Lippo were not available for further comments.

Astro-Lippo’s dispute was started in 2008, three years after the two entities decided to establish a joint venture to run a pay-TV business in Indonesia through PT Direct Vision, the subsidiary of PT Ayunda Prima Mitra, which is the subsidiary of Lippo’s unit PT First Media.

Under the agreement, Direct Vision is 49 percent owned by Ayunda Prima and 51 percent by Astro.

Earlier reports said that Astro started the arbitration in Singapore high court in October 2008, a month after Lippo filed a US$1.6 billion lawsuit to the South Jakarta District Court against a number of companies related to Astro. Lippo said that the suit followed Astro’s threat of terminating satellite services for the pay-TV venture under Direct Vision.

On the other hand, Astro accused Lippo of failing to pay bills amounting to 805 million ringgit (US$264 million).

In 2010, the three-member arbitration tribunal of the Singapore International Arbitration Center ruled that Astro should get $300 million from Lippo.

Lippo had filed an appeal to the Central Jakarta District Court to overturn the Singapore International Arbitration Center. The Central Jakarta District Court is appointed to execute arbitration center verdicts in Indonesia under the 1981 New York Convention on international arbitration awards. However, the Central Jakarta District Court then ruled in favor of Astro.

Last June, the Indonesia High Court also declined Direct Vision’s appeal.