Singapore legislation
Section 12
Section 12
Municipal Provident Fund Rules
(1)
The Minister may make such rules for the maintenance of the Municipal Provident Fund as he may consider desirable and, in particular, for —
the provision of payments or other allowances on death, resignation, retirement or discharge to persons who are members of the Fund or who become members thereof;
the payment of moneys into the Fund by the respective employers of the members of the Fund;
the payment of contributions towards the management expenses of the Fund by the employers; and
the contribution of moneys into the Fund by the members thereof and for their ceasing to be members of the Fund.Such rules shall not, in respect of every person whose provident fund benefits are safeguarded under section 10, provide for less favourable benefits than those conferred by the Municipal (Provident Fund) Rules 1956.
(2)
Subject to subsection (3), no payments or other allowances on death, superannuation, resignation, retirement or discharge made or granted to persons out of the Municipal Provident Fund nor the rights of any contributor acquired thereunder shall be assignable or transferable or liable to be attached, sequestrated or levied upon for or in respect of any debt or claim whatsoever. No such payments or other allowances shall pass to the Official Assignee on the bankruptcy of that person, but if any such person is adjudicated a bankrupt or is declared insolvent by judgment of the court, such payments or other allowances shall be deemed to be impressed with a trust in favour of the objects entitled thereto on the death of that person. The bankruptcy of a member shall not affect the making of deductions from the salary of the member under the rules of the Municipal Provident Fund, but notwithstanding the provisions of any written law such deductions shall continue to be made notwithstanding the bankruptcy and the portion of salary so deducted shall be deemed not to form part of the member’s after-acquired property.
(3)
Notwithstanding subsections (2) and (4), the Minister shall be entitled —
to deduct from the benefits (less such portion of them as shall with interest thereon have been contributed by the member) which would otherwise be payable to a member (or to the trustees or estate of a deceased member) from the Municipal Provident Fund any debt legally due from the member to the Government or his employer; and
at his discretion to deduct the whole or part of the benefits (less such portion of them as shall with interest thereon have been contributed by the member) which would otherwise be payable from the Municipal Provident Fund to a member (or to the trustees or estate of a deceased member) who is dismissed from the service of the Government or his employer after conviction for an offence involving dishonesty which results in pecuniary loss to the Government or his employer, or who would have been so dismissed had he not died, or who retires from or resigns his employment with intent to escape being so dismissed:Provided that the amount so forfeited shall not exceed the amount of the pecuniary loss to the Government or his employer.Any sum so deducted from the benefits which would otherwise be payable to a member (or to the trustees or estate of a deceased member) shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund or to his employer, as the case may be.
(4)
Subject to subsection (3), all moneys paid out of the Municipal Provident Fund on the death of any member shall be deemed to be impressed with a trust in favour of the objects entitled thereto under the will or intestacy of such deceased person, and shall not be deemed to form part of his or her estate or be subject to his or her debts but shall be deemed to be property passing on his or her death for the purposes of the Estate Duty Act [Cap. 96].
(5)
Any member may by a memorandum under his hand appoint a trustee or trustees of the moneys payable on his death out of the Municipal Provident Fund and may make provision for the appointment of a new trustee or new trustees of such moneys and for the investment thereof. Such memorandum shall be in such form as may be approved by the Minister and shall be deposited with the Government.
(6)
If at the time of the death of any member or at any time afterwards there is no trustee of such moneys or it is expedient to appoint a new trustee or new trustees, then and in any such case a trustee or trustees or a new trustee or new trustees may be appointed by the High Court or a Judge thereof.
(7)
The receipt of a trustee or trustees duly appointed or in default of any such appointment and of written notice thereof to the Government the receipt of the legal personal representative of a deceased member shall be a discharge to the Government for any moneys payable on his death out of the Municipal Provident Fund.