A case of alleged art fraud at the expense of a Russian oligarch and the head of a global "freeports" business is to go ahead in Singapore after a judge refused to move it to a different jurisdiction.

Singapore’s courts are set to host a $1 billion lawsuit brought by Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev against Yves Bouvier, the Swiss “freeport” entrepreneur, for allegedly inflating art prices, according to the Straits Times (of Singapore).

The High Court in the Asian jurisdiction has thrown out an attempt by Bouvier, a permanent resident of Singapore, to suspend the civil lawsuit filed against him by two companies linked to Rybolovlev. Bouvier has reportedly said the case should be heard in Switzerland.

A report, quoting a written judgment, said Senior Judge Lai Siu Chiu ruled that the Singapore suit, which was filed in the High Court in March last year, should proceed. But she said the case should move to the Singapore International Commercial Court, which was created in January last year to hear cross-border commercial disputes.

The case revolves around whether Bouvier, who helped Rybolovlev build up an art collection, was acting as an agent of the Russian or whether they had a buyer-seller relationship, the report said.

Bouvier is known as “king of the freeports”, which are storage facilities used by the wealthy to hold items such as fine art and other valuables. In 2010 he set up a Singapore freeport, and has followed with a facility in Luxembourg. There is also a facility in Geneva.