Singapore legislation
Section 12H
Section 12H
Offences by employee or agent
(1)
Where an offence under this Act is committed by an employee (in the course of employment) or an agent (in the course of acting as an agent) of a person (called in this section the defendant), the defendant shall be guilty of that same offence as is the employee or agent (as the case may be), and shall be liable on conviction to be punished accordingly if the defendant —
consented or connived to effect the commission of the offence;
is in any other way, whether by act or omission, knowingly concerned in, or party to, the commission of the offence by the employee or agent; or
knew or ought reasonably to have known that the offence by the employee or agent (or an offence of the same type) would be or is being committed, and failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent or stop the commission of that offence.
(2)
The defendant may rely on a defence that would be available to the employee or agent if the employee or agent were charged with the offence with which the defendant is charged and, in doing so, the defendant bears the same burden of proof that the employee or agent would bear.
(3)
To avoid doubt, this section does not affect —
the application of Chapters 5 and 5A of the Penal Code 1871, the Evidence Act 1893 or any other law or practice regarding the admissibility of evidence; or
the liability of an employee or agent for an offence under this Act, and applies whether or not the employee or agent is convicted of the offence.
(4)
A reference in this section to an employee or agent of a defendant does not include —
where the defendant is a corporation, an individual mentioned in section 12I(2)(a) in relation to a corporation; or
where the defendant is an unincorporated association or a partnership, an individual mentioned in section 12J(2)(a) in relation to an unincorporated association or a partnership.