Powers of entry, etc., for enforcement purpose
Open ↗24.—(1) A police officer or a dormitory inspector may, for an enforcement purpose, do all or any of the following in relation to any boarding premises (whether or not a foreign employee dormitory that is the subject of a licence):(a)
enter and inspect, without warrant, the premises, and inspect any equipment, vehicle or other thing at the premises;
(b)
photograph or film, or make audio recordings or make sketches of, any part of the premises or anything at the premises and of any individual apparently residing at the premises;
(c)
enter and search, in the day or night, the premises, if the police officer or dormitory inspector has reasonable cause to believe that evidence of the commission of an offence under this Act can be found at those premises;
(d)
detain any individual found within those premises until the search of the premises is complete;
(e)
inspect and make copies of, or take extracts from (without fee or reward) any document kept at the premises;
(f)
take any document or any other thing at the premises if the police officer or dormitory inspector considers it necessary to do so for the purpose of obtaining evidence of an offence under this Act, including asking any individual who is able to operate any equipment at the premises to do so for the purpose of enabling the police officer or dormitory inspector to ascertain whether the equipment, or a disk, tape or other storage device that can be used or associated with the equipment, contains information that is relevant;
(g)
require any person whom the police officer or dormitory inspector has reason to believe to be in possession of any document (including travel documents or documents of identity) or information relevant to the purposes of this Act to take reasonable steps to produce the document or provide the information;
(h)
require any person whom the police officer or dormitory inspector has reason to believe to be acquainted with any facts or circumstances relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act —(i)
to answer any question to the best of that person’s knowledge, information and belief, immediately or at any place and time specified in writing; or
(ii)
to take reasonable steps to provide information or produce a document, immediately or at any place and time specified in writing;
(i)
require the manager of the premises to produce all or any of the residents of those premises or the occupancy agreements for the residents of those premises.
(2) The power to require a person to provide information or produce a document under subsection (1)(g) or (h) includes the power —(a)
to require that person, or any person who is or was an officer or employee of that person, to provide an explanation of the document or information;
(b)
if the document or information is not provided, to require that person to state, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, where it is; and
(c)
if the information is recorded otherwise than in legible form, to require the information to be made available to the police officer or dormitory inspector in legible form.
(3) Where any document or information the production of which has been required of a person under subsection (1)(h) has not been produced or provided in compliance with that requirement, and the police officer or dormitory inspector concerned has reasonable grounds to believe that the person will not attend to produce or provide the document or information in compliance with that requirement, the police officer or dormitory inspector may apply to a Magistrate for the issue of a warrant to secure the attendance of that person for that purpose.
(4) If entry to any boarding premises mentioned in subsection (1) cannot be obtained, a police officer or dormitory inspector may, where the police officer or dormitory inspector has reasonable cause to believe that evidence of the commission of an offence under this Act can be found at those premises —(a)
after declaring his or her office and after producing his or her identification card on demand being made; and
(b)
with such force as is necessary to obtain entry,
break open any door or window leading to the premises, or remove by force any obstruction to the entry or search.
(5) Without limiting subsection (1) —(a)
a dormitory inspector exercising any function under this section may be accompanied by one or more medical practitioners and any of those medical practitioners may inspect the premises and observe, examine and speak with any person apparently residing at the premises; and
(b)
a dormitory inspector, in exercising his or her power under subsection (1)(a) or (c), may also open any ground and remove any flooring and take such measures as may be necessary to ascertain the character and condition of the premises and of any pipe, sewer, drain, wire or fitting.
(6) Any person asked under subsection (1)(g) or (h) is bound to state truly what the person knows of the facts and circumstances concerning matters under this Act, except that the person need not say anything that might expose that person to a criminal charge, penalty or forfeiture.
(7) A statement made by any person asked under this section must —(a)
be reduced to writing;
(b)
be read over to the person;
(c)
if the person does not understand English, be interpreted in a language that the person understands; and
(d)
after correction, if necessary, be signed by that person.
(8) In this section, “enforcement purpose” means —(a)
ensuring that the provisions of this Act and the regulations made under section 34 with respect to boarding premises operated as foreign employee dormitories, a code of practice or standard of performance, and any conditions imposed on a licence or any other consent, approval or authorisation under this Act with respect to boarding premises operated as foreign employee dormitories, are being complied with; or
(b)
investigating any offence under this Act or any contravention of or non‑compliance with a provision of this Act or a code of practice or standard of performance.
Power to arrest
Open ↗25.—(1) A police officer or a dormitory inspector may arrest without warrant any individual whom the police officer or dormitory inspector (as the case may be) reasonably suspects is committing or has committed an offence under section 7.
(2) For the purposes of this section, an officer or a member of a body corporate or an unincorporated association or a partner of a partnership that is liable for an offence under section 7 by virtue of section 27 is to be regarded as having committed the offence.
(3) A police officer or a dormitory inspector making an arrest without warrant must, without unnecessary delay and subject to subsection (4), take or send the individual arrested before a Magistrate’s Court.
(4) A dormitory inspector must not detain in custody any individual arrested without warrant for longer than is reasonable in the circumstances, and the period must not in any case exceed 48 hours exclusive of the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate’s Court.
(5) An individual who has been arrested by a police officer or a dormitory inspector under this section may be released on bail, or on the individual’s own bond, by a police officer or dormitory inspector.
(6) The provisions of Division 5 of Part 6 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 apply to any bail or bond granted under this section; and for this purpose, any reference in those provisions to “officer”, “police officer” or “police officer of or above the rank of sergeant” is to be read as a reference to a dormitory inspector.
(7) Sections 21A to 21G of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990 apply, with the necessary modifications, to an arrest under this section by a dormitory inspector for or in relation to an offence.
(8) In this section, a reference to an offence under section 7 includes a reference to an abetment of, or a conspiracy or an attempt to commit, the offence.
(9) To avoid doubt, nothing in this section affects a police officer’s powers or duties under the Criminal Procedure Code 2010.
Offence of providing false information, etc.
Open ↗26.—(1) If —(a)
a person furnishes a document, or makes a statement (whether orally, in writing or any other way) or gives information, to the Commissioner or a dormitory inspector;
(b)
the document, statement or information is false or misleading, or the statement or information omits any matter or thing without which the statement or information (as the case may be) is misleading;
(c)
the person knows, or ought reasonably to know, that the document, statement or information is as described in paragraph (b); and
(d)
the document is furnished in, or the statement is made or the information is given in, or in connection with —(i)
an application (whether for that person or for another) for a licence or renewal of a licence;
(ii)
a representation requested under section 13 or 14; or
(iii)
a question or requirement of a dormitory inspector under section 24(1) or (2),
the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the document, statement or information is not false or misleading in a material particular, or if the statement or information did not omit any matter or thing without which the statement or information (as the case may be) is misleading in a material particular.
(3) A person who refuses to give access to, or obstructs, hinders or delays the Commissioner or any other dormitory inspector in the discharge of his or her duties under this Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
(4) It is not an offence under subsection (3) for any person to refuse to comply with any request, demand or order made or given by the Commissioner or any dormitory inspector who fails to declare his or her office and refuses to produce his or her identification card on demand being made by that person.
Offences by bodies corporate, etc.
Open ↗27.—(1) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved —(a)
to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the body corporate; or
(b)
to be attributable to any neglect on the officer’s part,
the officer, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if that member were a director of the body corporate.
(3) Where an offence under this Act committed by a partnership is proved —(a)
to have been committed with the consent or connivance of a partner; or
(b)
to be attributable to any neglect on the partner’s part,
the partner, as well as the partnership, shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(4) Where an offence under this Act committed by an unincorporated association (other than a partnership) is proved —(a)
to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the unincorporated association or a member of its governing body; or
(b)
to be attributable to any neglect on the part of such an officer or a member,
the officer or member, as well as the unincorporated association, shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(5) In this section —“body corporate” includes a limited liability partnership as defined in section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005;
“officer” —(a)
in relation to a body corporate, means any director, partner, member of the committee of management, chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity; or
(b)
in relation to an unincorporated association (other than a partnership), means the president, the secretary, or any member of the committee of the unincorporated association, or any person holding a position analogous to that of president, secretary or member of the committee and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity;
“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.
Composition of offences
Open ↗28.—(1) The Commissioner may compound any offence under this Act that is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from the person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding the lower of the following:(a)
one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence;
(b)
$5,000.
(2) On payment of the sum of money, no further proceedings are to be taken against that person in respect of the offence.
(3) All sums collected under this section must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
