Singapore legislation
Section 59A
Section 59A
Production orders against futures brokers, etc., to produce material relating to drug trafficking
(1)
The Attorney-General or any person duly authorised by him in writing may, for the purpose of an investigation into drug trafficking, apply to the High Court for an order under subsection (2) in relation to particular material or material of a particular description.
(2)
The High Court may, if on such an application it is satisfied that the conditions referred to in subsection (3) are fulfilled, make an order that the licensee who appears to the Court to be in possession of the material to which the application relates shall —
produce the material to the Attorney-General or the person authorised by him for the Attorney-General or such person to take away; or
give the Attorney-General or the person authorised by him access to the material, within a reasonable period, but not less than 7 days, as the order may specify.
(3)
The conditions referred to in subsection (2) are —
(i)subject to section 59B, where the application is in respect of a foreign offence, that there is a prima facie case that a specified person has carried on or has benefited from drug trafficking; and
in any other case, that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that a specified person has carried on or has benefited from drug trafficking;
that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the material to which the application relates —
is likely to be of substantial value (whether by itself or together with other material) to the investigation for the purpose of which the application is made; and
does not consist of or include items subject to legal privilege; and
that it is not contrary to the public interest to produce the material to which the application relates.
(4)
A licensee who complies with an order under subsection (2) shall not be treated as being in breach of any restriction on the disclosure of information or material relating to a customer’s account imposed by any rule of law, contract or otherwise.
(5)
No action shall lie against a licensee who in good faith produces materials or gives access to materials relating to the account of a customer by reason of that licensee having made the production or given access in compliance with an order made against it under subsection (2) or any act done or omitted to be done in relation to the funds, investment or property in the account of that customer in consequence of the production of or access to those materials.
(6)
The proceedings for an application of a production order under this section shall be heard in camera.
(7)
In this section —
Definition
“drug trafficking” and “foreign offence” have the same meanings as in the Drug Trafficking (Confiscation of Benefits) Act;
Definition
“items subject to legal privilege” has the same meaning as in section 33(2) of the Drug Trafficking (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.
(8)
In this section and section 59B, “licensee” means the holder of a licence under this Act for a futures broker, a futures broker’s representative, a futures trading adviser, a futures trading adviser’s representative, a futures pool operator or a futures pool operator’s representative.