Bus Services Licensing Authority (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 22/1973

Read the first time on 11th July 1973.

An Act to amend the Bus Services Licensing Authority Act, 1971 (No. 5 of 1971).

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 Bus Services Licensing Authority (Amendment) Act, 1973 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 Bus Services Licensing Authority Act, 1971 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as “the principal Act”) is hereby amended —

(a)

by inserting immediately above the definition of “the Authority” appearing therein the following new definition: —

“ “affairs” in relation to a licensee includes —

(a)	the promotion, formation, membership, control, trading, dealings, business and property of the licensee;
(b)	the ownership of shares in, debentures of and interests made available by the licensee;
(c)	the ascertainment of the persons who are or have been financially interested in the success or failure or apparent success or failure of the licensee or are or have been able to control or materially to influence the policy of the licensee; and
(d)	the circumstances under which a person acquired or disposed of or became entitled to acquire or dispose of shares in, debentures of or interests made available by the licensee;”; and

(b)

by deleting the definition of “licensee” appearing therein and substituting therefor the following new definitions: —

“ “licensee” means a person to whom a bus service licence has been granted under this Act and includes any company which an inspector appointed under this Act thinks necessary to investigate the affairs of the company pursuant to subsection (1) of section 9B of this Act;

“officer or agent”, in relation to a licensee, includes —

(a)

a director, banker, solicitor or auditor of the licensee;

(b)

a person who at any time —

(i)	has been a person referred to in paragraph (a) of this definition; or
(ii)	has been otherwise employed or appointed by the licensee;

(c)

a person who —

(i)	has in his possession any property of the licensee; or
(ii)	is indebted to the licensee; or
(iii)	is capable of giving information concerning the promotion, formation, trading, dealings, affairs or property of the licensee; and

(d)

where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting or believing that a person is a person referred to in paragraph (c) of this definition — that person.”.”.

New sections 9, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D and 9E

3. The principal Act is hereby amended by repealing section 9 thereof and substituting therefor the following new sections: —

“Licensee to submit accounts

9.—(1) Every licensee shall, within three months after the close of each financial year of the licensee’s undertaking or within such extended period as the Authority may approve, submit a copy, certified by the licensee or if the licensee is a company by a director or by the manager or the secretary of the company, as the case may be, to be a true copy of the balance-sheet and of the profit and loss account for the financial year which have been respectively audited by the licensee’s auditors (including every document required by law to be annexed or attached thereto) together with a copy of the report of the auditors thereon (certified as aforesaid) and if any such balance-sheet or account is in a language other than English there must also be annexed to it a translation thereof in English certified to be a correct translation. If the said balance-sheet or account did not comply with the requirements of the law as in force at the date of the audit there must be made such additions to and corrections in the said copy therein in order to make it comply with the said requirements, and the fact that the copy has been so amended must be stated thereon.

(2) The licensee shall cause to be attached to the profit and loss account a statement or statements of the total revenue and expenditure of the licensee for the financial year containing such particulars and in such form as the Authority may direct and such statement or statements shall be signed by the licensee or if the licensee is a company by not less than two of the directors of the company.

(3) The statement or statements referred to in subsection (2) of this section shall be duly audited.

(4) If any licensee fails to comply with this section, the licensee and, if the licensee is a company, every director and manager thereof shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars and the Court may on the application made by the Secretary of the Authority or on his behalf order the licensee and, if the licensee is a company, a director or manager thereof to lodge the balance-sheet and the profit and loss account and the statements referred to in subsections (1) and (2) of this section within such time as the Court may determine.

(5) Nothing in this section shall prevent the Authority from taking any action to suspend or cancel the bus service licence issued to the licensee or to forfeit the whole or any part of any security deposited with the Authority by the licensee or by his bank pursuant to a bank guarantee in accordance with the provisions of section 11 of this Act for a contravention of the provisions of subsection (1), (2) or (3) of this section.

Investigation into the affairs of a licensee

9A.—(1) The Minister may appoint one or more inspectors to investigate the affairs of a licensee or such aspects of the affairs of a licensee as are specified in the instrument of appointment.

(2) An inspector appointed by the Minister may, and if so directed by the Minister shall, make interim reports to the Minister and on the conclusion of the investigation an inspector shall report his opinion on or in relation to the affairs that he has been appointed to investigate together with the facts upon which his opinion is based to the Minister, and a copy of the report shall be forwarded by the Minister to the registered office of the licensee.

(3) The Minister may, if he is of the opinion that it is necessary in the public interest to do, cause the report to be printed and published.

Procedure and powers of inspectors

9B.—(1) If an inspector appointed to investigate the affairs of a licensee which is a company thinks it necessary for the purposes of the investigation to investigate also the affairs of any other company which is or has at any relevant time been deemed to be or have been related to the licensee by virtue of section 6 of the Companies Act (Cap. 185) he shall have power so to do, and he shall report on the affairs of the other company so far as he thinks the results of the investigation thereof are relevant to the investigation of the affairs of the licensee.

(2) The licensee and every officer and agent of the licensee shall, if required by an inspector appointed under this Act, produce to the inspector all books and documents in his custody or power and shall give to the inspector all assistance in connection with the investigation which he is reasonably able to give.

(3) An inspector may, by notice in writing, require the licensee and any officer or agent of the licensee to appear for examination on oath or affirmation (which he is hereby authorised to administer) in relation to the business of the licensee and the notice may require the production of all books and documents in the custody or under the control of that licensee or officer or agent of that licensee.

(4) An inspector who pursuant to this section requires the production of all books and documents in the custody or power or under the control of an officer or agent of any licensee —

(a)	may take possession of all such books and documents;
(b)	may retain all such books and documents for such time as he considers to be necessary for the purpose of the investigation; and
(c)	shall permit the licensee to have access at all reasonable times to all such books and documents so long as they are in his possession.

(5) If any licensee or any officer or agent of the licensee fails to comply with the requirements of any notice issued under subsection (3) of this section or fails or refuses to answer any question which is put to him by an inspector with respect to the affairs of the licensee, the inspector may certify the failure or refusal under his hand to the Court, which may thereupon inquire into the case and, after hearing any witnesses against or on behalf of the alleged offender, deal with him in like manner as if he had been guilty of contempt of the Court.

(6) No person who is or has formerly been an officer or agent of a licensee shall be entitled to refuse to answer any question which is relevant or material to the investigation on the ground that his answer might tend to incriminate him but if he claims that the answer to any question might incriminate him and but for this subsection he would have been entitled to refuse to answer the question the answer to the question shall not be used in any subsequent criminal proceedings except in the case of a charge against him for making a false statement in answer to that question.

(7) Except as expressly provided in subsection (6) of this section a person shall be entitled to refuse to answer a question on the ground that the answer might tend to incriminate him.

(8) An inspector may cause notes of any examination under this Act to be recorded and reduced to writing and to be read to or by and signed by the person examined and any such signed notes may, except in the case of any answer which that person would not have been required to give but for the provisions of subsection (6) of this section, thereafter be used in evidence in any legal proceedings against that person.

Report of inspector to be admissible in evidence

9C. A copy of the report of any inspector appointed under this Act certified as correct by the Minister shall be admissible in any legal proceedings as evidence of the opinion of the inspector and of the facts upon which his opinion is based in relation to any matter contained in the report.

As to costs of investigations

9D. The expenses of and incidental to an investigation by an inspector appointed under this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.

Penalties

9E.—(1) Any person who with intent to defeat the purposes of this Act or to delay or obstruct the carrying out of an investigation under this Act —

(a)	destroys, conceals or alters any book, document or record of or relating to a licensee; or
(b)	sends or attempts to send or conspires with any other person to send out of Singapore any such book, document or record or any property of any description belonging to or in the disposition or under the control of a licensee,

shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or to both such imprisonment and fine.

(2) If in any prosecution for an offence against this section it is proved that the person charged with the offence —

(a)	has destroyed, concealed or altered any book, document or record of or relating to the licensee; or
(b)	has sent or attempted to send or conspired to send out of Singapore any book, document or record or any property of any description belonging to or in the disposition or under the control of the licensee,

the onus of proving that in so doing he had not acted with intent to defeat the purposes of this Act or to delay or obstruct the carrying out of an investigation under this Act shall lie on him.”.

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