General provisions as to offences
55.—(1)  Any person who —
(a)signs any document lodged with the Authority under section 36, 37 or 49FD(1)(a); or
(b)furnishes the Authority with any information under or for the purposes of any other provision of this Act,
shall use due care to secure that the document or information is not false in any material particular; and if he does not use due care in this behalf and the document or information is false in a material particular, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
[11/86; 32/93; 41/2001]
[16/2011 wef 01/05/2011]
(2)  Any person who is guilty of any breach of a duty imposed on him by this Act or any direction issued by the Authority under section 64(2) shall be guilty of an offence and, where no penalty is expressly provided, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $12,500 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $1,250 for every day during which the offence continues after conviction.
[11/86; 32/93; 30/99; 41/2001]
[23/2003 wef 01/01/2004]
(3)  Where an offence under this Act is committed by any corporation, any person who, at the time of the commission of the offence, is a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of that corporation, or is purporting to act in that capacity, shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly unless he proves that he exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to have exercised, having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances.
[41/2001]
[23/2003 wef 01/01/2004]
(4)  Where an offence under this Act is committed by a corporation, being an offence consisting in the breach of a duty imposed only on corporations, any individual guilty of the offence (whether under subsection (3) or otherwise) shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months in addition to or in substitution for any fine.
[11/86; 32/93]
[23/2003 wef 01/01/2004]
(5)  For the purpose of any proceedings under subsection (1)(a), a document purporting to be signed by any person shall be presumed to have been signed by him, unless the contrary is proved.
(6)  The Authority may, without instituting proceedings against any person for an offence under this Act which is punishable only by a fine, demand and receive the amount of such fine or such reduced amount as it thinks fit from that person, whereupon —
(a)if that person pays such amount to the Authority within 14 days after the demand, no proceedings shall be taken against him in relation to the offence; and
(b)if that person does not pay the amount so demanded, the Authority may cause proceedings to be instituted in relation to the offence.
[41/2001]
(7)  [Deleted by Act 23/2003 wef 01/01/2004]