Appointment of Board
Open ↗19.—(1) A Board of Trustees is established, consisting of not less than 5 and not more than 15 persons, all of whom must be appointed by the Minister.
(2) The trustees must be appointed for such period, not exceeding 3 years, as the Minister may specify in the instrument of appointment, and are eligible for re‑appointment.
(3) A trustee holds office on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Minister.
(4) If at any time it appears to the Minister that removal from office of any of the trustees is necessary in the interests of the effective and economical performance of the functions of the Board under this Act, the Minister may remove from office so many of those trustees as he or she considers necessary in those interests.
(5) All trustees are deemed to be public servants for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871.
(6) All trustees are deemed to be public officers for the purposes of the Financial Procedure Act 1966 and section 20 of that Act applies to such persons even though they are not or were not in the employment of the Government.
Functions and powers of Board
Open ↗20.—(1) The functions of the Board are to manage and invest the Fund in accordance with the provisions of this Act including, for example, the following functions:(a)
to advise on the interest rates for the purposes of the INVEST Plan or the Scheme;
(b)
to advise the Minister on proposed changes to any regulations made under Part 2 in relation to the INVEST Plan;
(c)
to exercise any other functions and duties conferred on the Board by or under any other written law.
(2) The Board has power to do all things necessary or convenient to be done for, or in connection with, the performance of its functions and, in particular, may —(a)
appoint agents and attorneys;
(b)
engage consultants and investment managers; and
(c)
take action to control or manage, or to enhance or protect, the value of, any investment made out of the Fund, or to enhance or protect, the return on the investment.
(3) In exercising its functions and powers, the Board has regard to —(a)
the interests of members; and
(b)
any directions of the Minister on any matter that is relevant to the performance of its functions, duties and powers.
(4) The trustees are not, by reason only of their having made such appointment or engagement under subsection (2)(a) or (b), responsible for any default of the agent, attorney, consultant or investment manager if appointed or engaged in good faith.
Ability to delegate, etc.
Open ↗21.—(1) The Board may delegate the performance or exercise of any of its functions or powers, either generally or specially, subject to the conditions or restrictions it thinks fit, to any of the following persons:(a)
a trustee;
(b)
a public officer;
(c)
an employee of a public authority;
(d)
an agent, a consultant or an investment manager appointed or engaged under section 20(2).[35/2019]
(2) A delegation by the Board under subsection (1) of the performance or exercise of any of its functions or powers to a person (called in this Act a delegate) must be made by —(a)
resolution of the Board; and
(b)
written notice given to the delegate.[35/2019]
(3) A delegation by the Board under subsection (1) of the performance or exercise of any of its functions or powers to a delegate mentioned in subsection (1)(d) may authorise that delegate to subdelegate the performance or exercise of the function or power to an appropriately qualified employee or contractor of that delegate (called in this Act a subdelegate).[35/2019]
(4) A subdelegation by a delegate under an authorisation given to the delegate under subsection (3) must be subject to the same conditions or restrictions imposed on the delegate under subsection (1) (called in this section the original conditions or restrictions), except that the delegate may —(a)
modify any of the original conditions or restrictions to apply a more stringent form of that condition or restriction to the subdelegate; or
(b)
impose on the subdelegate any additional condition or restriction not inconsistent with the original conditions or restrictions.[35/2019]
(5) Subsections (1) and (3) do not apply to any function or power that is declared by this Act or any other written law to be non‑delegable.[35/2019]
(6) A subdelegate to whom a function or power of the Board is subdelegated under an authorisation given to a delegate under subsection (3) is not authorised to further delegate that function or power to anyone else.[35/2019]
(7) A delegation or subdelegation in accordance with this section is not affected by any change in the membership of the Board.[35/2019]
Board’s delegates and subdelegates
Open ↗22.—(1) A delegate (or subdelegate) who purports to perform a function or exercise a power of the Board under delegation (or subdelegation) —(a)
is taken to do so in accordance with the terms of the delegation (or subdelegation) under section 21, unless the contrary is shown; and
(b)
must produce evidence of the delegation (or subdelegation), if reasonably requested to do so.[35/2019]
(2) Every delegate and subdelegate of the Board is, when performing any function or exercising any power of the Board, taken to be —(a)
a public servant for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871; and
(b)
a public officer for the purposes of the Financial Procedure Act 1966, and section 20 of that Act applies to each of these persons even though they are not or were not in the employment of the Government.[35/2019]
Award officers and appeal authority
Open ↗23.—(1) The Minister —(a)
may appoint one or more public officers as award officers to assess, award or pay pensions, gratuities, allowances and other like benefits under the INVEST Plan; and
(b)
may give such directions as he or she thinks fit to any such award officer in the discharge of his or her duties.
(2) The INVEST Plan is to be administered by award officers appointed under subsection (1) subject to the direction and control of the Minister and, except as otherwise provided by any regulations made under Part 2 in relation to the INVEST Plan, no award of benefits under the INVEST Plan is subject to appeal to any court.
(3) The Minister, or any person appointed by him or her for this purpose, may, on appeal, review any award of benefits by any award officer, and for this purpose may vary any award made by an award officer, whether by increasing or decreasing the award, and the decision of the Minister or such person so appointed is final and conclusive and is not subject to appeal to any court.
(4) Every appeal against any award of benefits under the INVEST Plan must be brought within 12 months of the date the appellant is notified of the decision of an award officer, or such longer period as the Minister or person appointed under subsection (3) may allow in any particular case.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
