Power of court when goods wrongfully pawned
Open ↗77. When in any civil or criminal proceedings the court finds that goods have been wrongfully pawned, the court may —(a)
order that the goods be delivered to their rightful owner, with or without a further order that the rightful owner pay a sum to another person;
(b)
order the sale of the goods, and the payment of the proceeds to the rightful owner of the goods or into court;
(c)
order that compensation be paid to the rightful owner of the goods; or
(d)
forfeit the goods.
Provisions relating to appeals to Minister
Open ↗78.—(1) An appeal to the Minister against a decision of the Registrar must be made within 14 days after the date of the decision appealed against.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), a decision appealed against is suspended until the appeal is determined, unless the Minister or Registrar otherwise orders.
(3) Any part of a decision that is not appealed against continues to have effect.
(4) The Minister may determine an appeal by confirming, varying or reversing the Registrar’s decision.
(5) The Minister’s decision in an appeal is final.
General penalty
Open ↗79. A person guilty of an offence under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
Offences by bodies corporate, etc.
Open ↗80.—(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; or
(b)
to be attributable to any neglect on the part of an officer,
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 the 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 part of a partner,
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 the 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;
“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.
Jurisdiction of District and Magistrates’ Courts
Open ↗81. Despite any provision to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, a District Court or a Magistrate’s Court —(a)
may try any offence under this Act; and
(b)
may impose the full punishment for the offence.
Amendment of Schedules
Open ↗82.—(1) The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, amend the First, Second or Third Schedule.
(2) The Minister may, in an order under subsection (1), make any incidental, consequential or supplementary provisions that may be necessary or expedient.
(3) An order made under subsection (1) must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette.
Rules
Open ↗83.—(1) The Minister may make rules —(a)
prescribing the circumstances in which a licence must not be granted or renewed;
(b)
prescribing different classes of licences, the persons eligible to hold each class of licence, and the conditions applicable to each class of licence;
(c)
prescribing the records to be kept by a pawnbroker and the manner in which the records are to be kept;
(d)
prescribing the form of a pawn ticket to be issued by a pawnbroker and the particulars to be entered therein;
(e)
prescribing generally the manner in which, and the conditions under which, the business of pawnbroking is to be conducted;
(f)
prescribing the fees to be paid for the purposes of this Act, including application fees and licence fees;[Act 32 of 2024 wef 25/11/2024]
(g)
prescribing the procedure to be followed by an applicant for a licence;
(h)
to provide for the prevention of money laundering, terrorism financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;[Act 6 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024]
(ha)
to provide for the reporting of transactions that may involve money laundering, terrorism financing or the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;[Act 6 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024]
(i)
prescribing the offences under this Act that may be compounded;
(j)
prescribing anything that is required or permitted to be prescribed under this Act; and
(k)
generally for carrying out the purposes of and giving effect to the provisions of this Act.
(2) The rules made under this section may provide that any contravention of any provision of the rules shall be an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding $20,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or with both.
Saving and transitional provisions
Open ↗84.—(1) The persons appointed as the Registrar of Pawnbrokers and Assistant Registrars of Pawnbrokers under the repealed Act are deemed to be appointed as the Registrar of Pawnbrokers and Assistant Registrars of Pawnbrokers, respectively, under this Act.
(2) An offence under the repealed Act may be investigated under the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 and the provisions of this Act.
(3) Where an article (called in this subsection the pledge) is pawned with a pawnbroker under the repealed Act —(a)
subject to paragraph (b), the pledge may be redeemed in accordance with sections 17 and 19 of the repealed Act as if those sections had not been repealed;
(b)
the period under section 17 of the repealed Act within which the pledge is redeemable may be extended by agreement in accordance with section 55, and upon the extension of that period, this Act applies to the pledge and to the agreement to extend that period; and
(c)
if the pledge is not redeemed in accordance with sections 17 and 19 of the repealed Act and the period mentioned in paragraph (b) is not extended by agreement in accordance with section 55, the pledge must be disposed of as follows:(i)
if the pledge is pawned for $50 or less, the pledge must be disposed of in accordance with section 18 of the repealed Act as if that section had not been repealed; or
(ii)
if the pledge is pawned for more than $50 —(A)
the pledge must be disposed of —(AA)
by sale by an auctioneer in accordance with section 20 of the repealed Act as if that section had not been repealed, if the disposal occurs within the period of 8 months after 1 April 2015; or
(AB)
by sale in the manner that the Registrar may specify, if the disposal occurs after the period mentioned in sub‑paragraph (AA);
(B)
where the pledge is sold at a price exceeding the loan and profit secured by the pledge, the surplus must be dealt with —(BA)
in accordance with sections 23 and 24(1), (2), (3), (5) and (6) of the repealed Act as if those provisions had not been repealed; and
(BB)
in accordance with sub‑paragraph (C); and
(C)
where a claim is made to the Registrar for any surplus paid to the Accountant‑General under section 24(2) of the repealed Act read with sub‑paragraph (B), the Registrar may, if the Registrar considers the claimant to be entitled to the surplus, order the Accountant‑General to pay the surplus to the claimant.
(4) Any subsidiary legislation made under the repealed Act and in force immediately before 1 April 2015 continues in force as if made under this Act, so far as the subsidiary legislation is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act and until the subsidiary legislation is revoked or repealed.
(5) Any written law or document referring to the repealed Act or any provision of that Act is, as far as may be necessary for preserving its effect, to be construed as referring, or as including a reference to, this Act or the corresponding provision of this Act, as the case may be.[85
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
