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Corruption (Confiscation of Benefits) Bill

Bill No. 7/1989

Read the first time on 16th January 1989.

An Act to provide for the confiscation of benefits derived from corruption and for purposes connected therewith.

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

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Corruption (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1989 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“corruption offence” means an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act [Cap. 241] or under section 161, 162, 163, 164 or 165 of the Penal Code [Cap. 224] or any conspiracy to commit, any attempt to commit or any abetment of such an offence;

“charging order” means an order made under section 12(1);

“confiscation order” means an order made under section 4;

“dealing with property” is to be construed in accordance with section 11(7);

“defendant” means a person against whom proceedings have been instituted for a corruption offence or offences whether or not he has been convicted thereof;

“gift caught by this Act” is to be construed in accordance with section 8(8);

“interest”, in relation to property, includes right;

“making a gift” is to be construed in accordance with section 8(9);

“officer of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau” means the Director of the Bureau appointed under section 3(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Deputy Director and any assistant director and special investigator of the Bureau appointed under section 3(2) of that Act;

“property” means money and all other property, movable or immovable, including things in action and other intangible or incorporeal property;

“realisable property” has the meaning given by section 8(1);

“restraint order” means an order made under section 11(1);

“value of gift” is to be construed in accordance with section 8;

“value of property” is to be construed in accordance with section 8(4).

(2) For the purposes of this Act —

(a)	property is held by any person if he holds any interest in it;
(b)	references to property held by a person include a reference to property vested in his trustee in bankruptcy or liquidator;
(c)	references to an interest held by a person beneficially in property include a reference to an interest which would be held by him beneficially if the property were not so vested in his trustee in bankruptcy or liquidator; and
(d)	property is transferred by one person to another if the first person transfers or grants to the other any interest in the property.

(3) For the purposes of this Act —

(a)

proceedings for an offence are instituted in Singapore when a person is produced and charged in court with the offence;

(b)

proceedings in Singapore for a corruption offence are concluded on the occurrence of one of the following events:

(i)	the discontinuance of the proceedings;
(ii)	the acquittal of the defendant;
(iii)	the quashing of his conviction for the offence;
(iv)	the grant of the President’s pardon in respect of his conviction for the offence;
(v)	the court sentencing or otherwise dealing with him in respect of his conviction for the offence without having made a confiscation order; and
(vi)	the satisfaction of a confiscation order made in the proceedings (whether by payment of the amount due under the order or by the defendant serving imprisonment in default).

(4) For the purposes of this Act, an order is subject to appeal so long as an appeal or further appeal is pending against the order or (if it was made on a conviction) against the conviction; and for this purpose an appeal or further appeal shall be treated as pending (where one is competent but has not been brought) until the expiration of the time for bringing the appeal.

Application

3.—(1) This Act shall apply to any corruption offence whether committed before or after the commencement of this Act except that nothing in this Act imposes any duty or confers any power on any court in or in connection with proceedings against a person for a corruption offence in respect of which he has been convicted by a court before the commencement of this Act.

(2) This Act shall apply to any property, whether it is situated in Singapore or elsewhere.