Moneylenders (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 14/1967

Read the first time on 29th June 1967.

An Act to amend the Moneylenders Ordinance, 1959 (No. 58 of 1959).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Moneylenders (Amendment) Act, 1967, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Moneylenders Ordinance, 1959 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as “the Ordinance”) is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the expression “; or” appearing at the end of paragraph (d) of the definition of “moneylender” therein and substituting therefor a full-stop; and
(b)	by deleting paragraph (e) of the said definition therein.

Amendment of section 3

3. Section 3 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the expression “, (d), and (e)” appearing in the first line thereof and substituting therefor the expression “and (d)”.

Amendment of section 9

4. The proviso to subsection (1) of section 9 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the word “eighteen” appearing in the last line of paragraph (iv) thereof and substituting therefor the word “twenty-one”.

Amendment of section 16

5. Section 16 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “or crossed postal order or crossed money order” appearing in the penultimate line of subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the expression “, with the words “licensed moneylender” endorsed legibly below the signature of the moneylender or his agent on such cheque,”;

(b)

by inserting immediately after subsection (2) thereof the following new subsections: —

“(3) No moneylender or his agent shall present to any bank any crossed cheque drawn by another moneylender or his agent and made payable to a borrower or his agent and any moneylender or his agent who acts in contravention of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(4) Any person, not being a moneylender, who presents to any bank more than two crossed cheques in any one month drawn by any moneylender or his agent and made payable to a borrower or his agent shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(5) In the course of any investigation or proceedings into or relating to an offence by any person under subsection (3) or (4) of this section, the Public Prosecutor may, notwithstanding anything in any other written law to the contrary, by notice in writing, require the manager of any bank to furnish him with such information as he may require to enable him to identify any person having an account at that bank and the manager of any bank who wilfully neglects or fails to comply with the terms of that notice and within such time as may be specified in that notice shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.”; and

(c)

by re-numbering the existing subsections (3), (4), (5) and (6) thereof as subsections (6), (7), (8) and (9), respectively.

Amendment of section 19

6. Subsection (4) of section 19 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting immediately after the word “accounts” appearing in the last line thereof the following: —

“and to any cheque drawn by the moneylender or his agent that has been cleared by any bank and to any note or memorandum setting out a contract for the repayment of money lent in which he is or has been concerned”.

Amendment of section 20

7. Subsection (4) of section 20 of the Ordinance is hereby deleted and the following new subsections substituted therefor: —

“(4) A moneylender, receiving any payment of money under a contract for the repayment of money lent, shall immediately thereafter endorse on the stamped note or memorandum setting out that contract the amount of money received and the date it was received by him and shall, on demand by the payer, give a duly stamped receipt therefor and any moneylender who contravenes the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars.

(5) Where a moneylender has been convicted of an offence under subsection (4) of this section and the borrower has not repaid in full the amount due and payable under the contract for repayment of money lent, such contract shall not be enforceable in respect of any monies still unpaid under that contract.

(6) If a moneylender is convicted of an offence under subsection (4) of this section the court shall cause particulars of the conviction to be endorsed on the note or memorandum of the contract for repayment of money lent.”.

Amendment of section 33

8. Section 33 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)

by re-numbering the existing section as subsection (1); and

(b)

by inserting immediately after subsection (1) thereof the following new subsection: —

“(2) Any person reasonably suspected of having committed an offence under subsection (1) of this section who refuses or fails to accompany a police officer when required to do so for the purposes of any investigation under this Ordinance may be arrested without warrant.”.

New section 34A

9. The Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 34 thereof the following new section: —

“Power of Minister to grant exemptions

34A.—(1) The Minister may, upon payment of the prescribed fee, exempt, with or without conditions, any body corporate or society from all or any of the provisions of this Ordinance, and may revoke any exemption granted by him at any time by the service of a notice of revocation in writing on the body corporate or society.

(2) Every exemption under subsection (1) of this section shall in the first instance be valid for a period of three years or less from the date of the granting thereof but may, upon payment of the prescribed fee, be extended thereafter, with or without additional conditions, for further periods not exceeding three years at a time.

(3) Any body corporate or society which immediately before the date of the coming into operation of this section had been previously exempted from the provisions of this Ordinance by the Minister, by notification published in the Gazette, shall be deemed to have been exempted under this section from the date of the coming into operation of this section until the 31st day of December 1967.”.

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