Examination orders
Open ↗73.—(1) A law enforcement officer may, for the purpose of any proceeding or proposed proceeding under Part 3, 4, 5 or 9, apply to the General Division of the High Court for an order under subsection (2) in relation to particular information, or information of a particular description.[40/2019]
(2) The General Division of the High Court may, if on such an application it is satisfied that all of the conditions in subsection (3) are fulfilled, make an order that a person who appears to the General Division of the High Court to be in possession of the information to which the application relates must do one or more of the following by the time specified in the order:(a)
attend before an authorised officer;
(b)
answer questions with respect to any matter that the authorised officer has reason to believe may be relevant to the proceeding or proposed proceeding;
(c)
supply any information specified in the order or produce for inspection any document specified in the order.[40/2019]
(3) The conditions mentioned in subsection (2) are that —(a)
there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that —(i)
in relation to a proceeding or proposed proceeding under Part 3, 4 or 5 — a person has been involved in any Part 2 offence (as defined under section 14(5)) or any serious offence associated with an organised criminal group (as defined under section 14(2)); or
(ii)
in relation to a proceeding or proposed proceeding under Part 9 — a person has carried out organised crime activity (as defined under section 48);
(b)
there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that a specified person is able to do one or both of the following:(i)
answer any question on any matter that is likely to be of substantial value (whether by itself or together with other material) to the proceeding or proposed proceeding;
(ii)
supply any information with respect to any matter that is likely to be of substantial value (whether by itself or together with other material) to the proceeding or proposed proceeding; and
(c)
there are reasonable grounds for believing that it is in the public interest that the question is answered or the information is supplied (as the case may be), having regard to —(i)
the benefit likely to accrue to the proceeding or proposed proceeding if the information is supplied; and
(ii)
the circumstances under which the person learns of the information.
(4) In an application for an order under this section, any defence that is available to a person who is prosecuted for an offence relating to the involvement mentioned in subsection (3)(a)(i), or an offence constituting the organised crime activity in subsection (3)(a)(ii) (as the case may be), is also available to a person against whom the order is sought.
(5) A person required to attend before an authorised officer under subsection (2) must be given a reasonable opportunity to arrange for an advocate and solicitor to accompany the person.
(6) If any document is produced pursuant to an order under this section, an authorised officer may do any one or more of the following:(a)
retain the original document produced for as long as is necessary for the purposes of the proceeding or proposed proceeding;
(b)
take copies of the document, or of extracts from the document;
(c)
require the person producing the document to provide an explanation of the history, subject matter, and contents of the document and to answer any other questions that arise from that explanation and that the authorised officer has reason to believe may be relevant to the proceeding or proposed proceeding;
(d)
if necessary, require the person producing the document to reproduce, or assist an authorised officer to reproduce, in a usable form, any information recorded or stored in the document.
(7) An order under subsection (2) or a requirement under subsection (6) —(a)
does not confer any right to require a person to supply items subject to legal privilege; but
(b)
has effect despite any obligation as to secrecy or other restriction upon the disclosure of information imposed by written law or otherwise.
(8) A person is not excused from complying with an order under subsection (2) or a requirement under subsection (6) on the ground that —(a)
the supply of any information might tend to incriminate the person or make the person liable to a penalty; or
(b)
the supply of any information would be in breach of an obligation (whether imposed by written law or otherwise) of the person not to disclose the existence or contents of the material.
(9) Where a person complies with an order under subsection (2) or a requirement under subsection (6), any information so supplied is not admissible against the person in any criminal proceedings except a proceeding for an offence under subsection (12).
(10) A person who complies with an order under subsection (2) or a requirement under subsection (6) is not to be treated as being in breach of any restriction upon the disclosure of information imposed by written law or otherwise.
(11) No action lies against a person who in good faith supplies information in compliance with an order under subsection (2) or a requirement under subsection (6).
(12) A person shall be guilty of an offence if the person —(a)
contravenes or fails to comply with an order under subsection (2) or a requirement under subsection (6) without reasonable excuse; or
(b)
in purported compliance with the order or requirement, supplies information known to the person to be false or misleading in a material particular.
(13) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (12) shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
(14) An authorised officer may exercise the powers conferred on him or her by this section despite any provision in any other written law relating to the supply of information or information of a particular description.
(15) An appeal lies from any order made under subsection (2), or the refusal to make such an order, by the General Division of the High Court to the Court of Appeal.[40/2019]
(16) Rules of Court may provide for —(a)
the manner in which an appeal under subsection (15) may be made;
(b)
the discharge and variation of orders under this section; and
(c)
proceedings relating to such orders.
(17) In this Part, “authorised officer” means such law enforcement officer, or class of law enforcement officers, as may be prescribed.
Duty to give information of certain matters
Open ↗74.—(1) Every person who is aware of any information relating to —(a)
the commission of;
(b)
an arrangement facilitating the commission of; or
(c)
the intention of any other person to commit or facilitate,
any offence punishable under this Act, must, in the absence of reasonable excuse (the burden of proving which lies upon the person so aware), immediately give the information to any law enforcement officer of the commission, arrangement or intention.
(2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —(a)
in the case of a natural person, to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both; and
(b)
in any other case, to a fine not exceeding $10,000.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), it is a reasonable excuse for a person not to comply with that subsection if the person has already given the information mentioned in that subsection to a law enforcement officer pursuant to any other written law.
Offences arrestable
Open ↗75. Every offence under this Act is arrestable for the purposes of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010.
Offences by bodies corporate, etc.
Open ↗76.—(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 his or her 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 his or her functions of management as if he or she 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 his or her 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 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 within the meaning given by 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 such a committee and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity;
“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.
(6) The Minister may make regulations to provide for the application of any provision of this section, with such modifications as the Minister considers appropriate, to a body corporate or an unincorporated association formed or recognised under the law of a territory outside Singapore.
Consent of Public Prosecutor
Open ↗77. No prosecution in respect of any offence under this Act may be instituted except by or with the consent of the Public Prosecutor.
Jurisdiction of courts
Open ↗78. Despite any provision to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, a District Court or a Magistrate’s Court has jurisdiction to try any offence punishable under this Act, other than an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, and has power to impose the full penalty or punishment in respect of the offence.
Composition of offences
Open ↗79.—(1) The Minister or a public officer authorised by the Minister in writing 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 criminal 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.
Amendment of Schedule
Open ↗80.—(1) The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, amend the Schedule.
(2) The Minister may, in any order made under subsection (1), make such incidental, consequential or supplementary provision as may be necessary or expedient.
Regulations
Open ↗81.—(1) The Minister may make regulations for anything that is required, permitted or necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Minister may make regulations for or with respect to all or any of the following matters:(a)
the electronic monitoring of an individual subject to an OCPO;
(b)
the application of any provision of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, with such exceptions, modifications and adaptations as are necessary in relation to an application under section 15, 21, 28, 32 or 33, or in relation to an appeal under section 34;
(c)
the prescribing of anything that is required or permitted to be prescribed under this Act.
(3) Regulations made under subsection (1) may —(a)
provide that a contravention of any specified provision of those regulations is an offence; and
(b)
provide for penalties not exceeding a fine of $10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or both, for each offence.
Orders and regulations to be presented to Parliament
Open ↗82. All orders and regulations made under this Act are to be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
