54. Section 100 of the principal Act is repealed and the following sections substituted therefor:100.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, it shall be an offence if —(a) | a society, or any officer or member thereof, neglects or refuses to do an act or furnish information required for the purposes of this Act by the Minister, the Registrar or a person duly authorised in that behalf by the Minister or Registrar, as the case may be; | (b) | a person makes a false return or declaration or furnishes false information under this Act; | (c) | a person, without reasonable excuse, disobeys any summons, requisition, written direction or written order issued under this Act or does not furnish information required from him by a person authorised to do so under this Act; | (d) | a person acts or purports to act as a member of the committee of management of a society when not entitled to do so; | (e) | a society, or any officer or member thereof, performs any act which requires the consent or approval of the Registrar without first having obtained the consent or approval; | (f) | a society, or any officer or member thereof, neglects or refuses to do any act or thing which is required by or under this Act to be done; or | (g) | a society, or any officer or member thereof, does or causes to be done any act or thing which is prohibited by this Act. |
(2) Any society which fails to comply with a term or condition of its registration, or of any approval granted by the Registrar under section 16A, shall be guilty of an offence. |
(3) Every society, officer, agent, employee or member of a society or other person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $500 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction. |
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False reports made by officer to member of committee of management, auditor or member of society |
100A.—(1) Any officer of a society who, with intent to deceive, makes or furnishes, or knowingly and wilfully authorises or permits the making or furnishing of, any false or misleading statement or report —(a) | to a member of the committee of management, an auditor, or a member of the society; or | (b) | in the case of a society that is a subsidiary, to an auditor of the parent society, |
relating to the affairs of the society, shall be guilty of an offence and 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. |
(2) In subsection (1), “officer” includes a person who at any time has been an officer of the society. |
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Fraudulently inducing persons to invest or deposit money with society |
100B. Whoever, being an officer or agent of any society, by any deceitful means or false promise and with intent to defraud, causes or procures any money to be paid to or deposited with that society or himself or any other person for the use or benefit or on account of that society shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $15,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both. |
Fraud by officers against creditors of societies |
100C.—(1) Every person who, while an officer of a society —(a) | has by deceitful or fraudulent or dishonest means or by means of any other fraud induced any person to give credit to the society; | (b) | with intent to defraud creditors of the society, has made or caused to be made any gift or transfer of or charge on, or has caused or connived at the levying of any execution against, the property of the society; or | (c) | with intent to defraud creditors of the society, has concealed or removed any part of the property of the society since or within 2 months before the date of any unsatisfied judgment or order for payment of money obtained against the society, |
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $15,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both. |
(2) If, in the course of the winding-up of a society or in any proceedings against a society, it appears that an officer of the society who was knowingly a party to the contracting of a debt had, at the time the debt was contracted, no reasonable or probable ground of expectation, after taking into consideration the other liabilities, if any, of the society at the time, of the society being able to pay the debt, the officer shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both. |
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Offences by bodies corporate, etc. |
100D.—(1) Where an offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder 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 his 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) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate. |
(3) Where an offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder 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 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. |
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(4) Where an offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder 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 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. |
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(5) In this section —“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 a committee and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity; |
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“partner” includes any person purporting to act as a partner. |
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(6) The Minister may make rules to provide for the application of any provision of this section, with such modifications as the Minister considers appropriate, to any body corporate or unincorporated association formed or recognised under the law of a territory outside Singapore. |
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100E. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68), a District Court shall have jurisdiction to try any offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder and shall have power to impose the full penalty or punishment in respect of the offence. |
100F.—(1) The Registrar may, in his discretion, compound any offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder which is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding —(a) | one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence; or | (b) | $5,000, |
(2) On payment of such sum of money, no further proceedings shall be taken against that person in respect of the offence.”. |
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