PART 8 | ENFORCEMENT POWERS AND PROCEDURES |
| Power to require information, etc. |
| 78.—(1) The Authority or any officer authorised by the Authority in that behalf (called in this section the authorised officer) may, for the purposes of conducting an investigation or for discharging the Authority’s functions under this Act, by order require any person to produce to the Authority any document, or to provide the Authority with any information, which the Authority considers to be related to any matter relevant to the investigation or for discharging its functions under this Act. [10/2005] | (2) The Authority or the authorised officer is entitled without payment to keep any copy or extract of any document furnished to the Authority or the authorised officer under subsection (1). [10/2005] |
| (3) The Authority or the authorised officer has, at all reasonable times in the day, full and free access to all buildings, places, books, documents and other papers for the purpose of conducting an investigation or discharging functions of the Authority under this Act, and may, without payment, inspect, copy or make extracts from any such books, documents or papers. [10/2005] |
(4) The Authority may take possession of any equipment, books, documents or papers where in its opinion —| (a) | the equipment, books, documents or papers may be interfered with or destroyed unless possession is taken; or | | (b) | the equipment, books, documents or papers may be required as evidence in proceedings for an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act. |
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| (5) The rights conferred by this section include, in relation to information recorded otherwise than in legible form, the right to require the information to be made available in legible form for inspection or for a copy or extract to be made of or from it. |
(6) The power under this section to require a person to produce a document includes the power —| (a) | if the document is produced, to require such person, or any person who is a present or past officer of the person or is or was at any time employed by the person, to provide an explanation of the document; or | | (b) | if the document is not produced, to require such person to state, to the best of the person’s knowledge and belief, where it is. [10/2005] |
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(7) Any person who —| (a) | fails to comply with any requirement specified in any order under subsection (1); | | (b) | intentionally alters, suppresses or destroys any document or information which the person has been required by any order under subsection (1) to produce or provide; or | | (c) | in furnishing any information required of the person under any order under subsection (1), makes any statement which the person knows to be false in a material particular, or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular, |
| shall be guilty of an offence. |
[10/2005] |
(8) If a person is charged with an offence under subsection (7) in respect of a requirement to produce any document or provide any information under subsection (1), it is a defence for the person to prove that —| (a) | the document was not in the possession or under the control of the person; | | (b) | it was not reasonably practicable for the person to comply with the requirement; or | | (c) | the person had a reasonable excuse for failing to provide the information required. [10/2005] |
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| (9) A person is not obliged under this section to disclose any particulars as to which the person is under any statutory obligation to observe secrecy. |
(10) In this section and sections 81 and 83 —| “document” includes any electronic record; |
| “electronic record” has the meaning given by the Electronic Transactions Act 2010. [59 [10/2005] |
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79.—(1) An officer of the Authority who is authorised by the Authority for the purpose of this section (called in this section the authorised officer) may, for the purposes of investigating an offence under this Act, do all or any of the following:| (a) | require any person whom the authorised officer reasonably believes to have committed that offence to furnish evidence of that person’s identity; | | (b) | require, by written notice, any person within the limits of Singapore, who appears to be acquainted with the facts or circumstances of the matter to attend before the authorised officer; | | (c) | examine orally any person who appears to be acquainted with the facts or circumstances of the matter —| (i) | whether before or after that person or anyone else is charged with an offence in connection with the matter; or | | (ii) | whether or not that person is to be called as a witness in any inquiry, trial or other proceeding in connection with the matter. [22/2016] |
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| (2) A person examined under subsection (1)(c) is bound to state truly what the person knows of the facts and circumstances of the matter, except that the person need not say anything that might expose the person to a criminal charge or punishment. [22/2016] |
(3) A statement made by a person examined under subsection (1)(c) 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 the person. [22/2016] |
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(4) Any person who —| (a) | without reasonable excuse, fails to furnish the information required of that person under subsection (1)(a); | | (b) | without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a notice issued to that person under subsection (1)(b); or | | (c) | furnishes any information or makes any statement under this section which the person knows to be false or misleading in any material particular, |
| shall be guilty of an offence. |
[59A [22/2016] |
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| Powers of arrest and search in respect of seizable offences |
80.—(1) The Chief Executive or any employee of the Authority deputed by the Chief Executive to act under this section or any police officer may arrest without warrant —| (a) | any person found committing or attempting to commit or employing or aiding any person to commit a seizable offence under this Act; or | | (b) | any person against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that the person has been guilty of a seizable offence under this Act, |
| and may search any person so arrested, except that a woman must not be searched except by a woman. |
| (2) Every person so arrested must, together with any article as to which an offence may have been committed or attempted to be committed, be taken to a police station. |
| (3) For the purposes of this section, offences punishable under sections 53, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68 and 71 are deemed to be seizable offences within the meaning of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010. [60 [15/2019] |
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| Powers of search and arrest in respect of offences under section 53 or 64 |
81.—(1) Whenever it appears to any police officer or the Chief Executive or any employee of the Authority authorised to act for the Chief Executive under this section that an offence under section 53 or 64 is being committed or is about to be committed or attempted, or that any article is concealed or deposited or contained in or on any vessel, aircraft, vehicle or premises in contravention of either of those sections, the police officer or the Chief Executive or the employee of the Authority may, if he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that by reason of the delay in obtaining a search warrant the article is likely to be removed —| (a) | stop and examine the vessel, aircraft or vehicle or enter the premises and there search for and take possession of any article and of any book or document which is reasonably believed to have a bearing on the case; and | | (b) | arrest any person being in the vessel, aircraft, vehicle or premises in whose possession the article may be found or whom the police officer or the Chief Executive or the employee of the Authority may reasonably suspect to have concealed or deposited the article and may search any person so arrested, except that a woman must not be searched except by a woman. |
| (2) Every person so arrested must, together with any such article, be taken to a police station. [61 |
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| Obstruction of police officer or Chief Executive or employee of Authority |
| 82. Any person who intentionally obstructs a police officer or the Chief Executive or any employee of the Authority authorised to act for the Chief Executive in the execution of his or her duty under section 57 or 81 shall be guilty of an offence. [62 |
| No costs or damages or other relief arising from seizure to be recoverable unless seizure without reasonable or probable cause |
| 83. In any proceedings before any court in respect of any equipment, article, book or document seized in the exercise or the purported exercise of any power conferred under this Act, a person is not entitled to the costs of the proceedings or to any damages or other relief other than an order for the return of the equipment, article, book or document or the payment of their value unless the seizure was made without reasonable or probable cause. [63 |
| 84.—(1) Any police officer not below the rank of sergeant specially authorised by name in that behalf by the Minister, or any employee of the Authority specially authorised by name in that behalf by the Chief Executive, may compound any offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act that is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding $5,000. [10/2005] | (2) The Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, make regulations prescribing the offences that may be compounded. [64 |
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| 85. Any person guilty of an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall, in addition to the forfeiture of any article seized, be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction. [65 [10/2005] |
| Saving of prosecutions under other written laws |
86.—(1) This Act does not prevent any person from being prosecuted under any other written law for any act or omission which constitutes an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act, or from being liable under that other written law to any punishment or penalty higher or other than that provided by this Act or the regulations.| (2) A person must not be punished twice for the same offence. [66 |
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| 87. A Magistrate’s Court or a District Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine all offences under this Act and, despite anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, has power to impose the full penalty or punishment in respect of any offence under this Act. [67 |
| Offences by bodies of persons |
88. Where an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act has been committed by a company, firm, society or other body of persons, any person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer or a partner of the company, firm, society or other body of persons or was purporting to act in such capacity shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly unless he or she proves that —| (a) | the offence was committed without his or her consent or connivance; and | | (b) | he or she exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he or she ought to have exercised, having regard to the nature of his or her functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances. [68 |
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