Singapore legislation
Section 23
Section 23
Effect of death on proceedings
(1)
Proceedings under this Act shall be instituted or continued against the personal representatives of a deceased defendant or, if there are no personal representatives, such beneficiary or beneficiaries of the estate of the deceased defendant as may be specified by the court upon the application of the Public Prosecutor.
(2)
Where the power conferred by this Act to make a confiscation order is to be exercised in relation to a deceased defendant, the order shall be made against the estate of the deceased defendant except that nothing in this Act shall subject any personal representative of the estate of the deceased defendant, or any beneficiary thereof, to any imprisonment under section 9 if the property of the estate is inadequate for the payment of any amount to be recovered under the confiscation order.
(3)
Sections 4(4) and 5 shall not apply to any deceased defendant.
(4)
For the purposes of Part II, the following provisions shall apply in determining whether a deceased defendant had derived benefits from corruption or in determining those benefits or the value of those benefits:
a deceased defendant shall be deemed to have derived benefits from corruption if he had, at any time (whether before or after 10th July 1989) since the beginning of the period of 6 years ending at the date of his death, held any property or interest therein disproportionate to his known sources of income, the holding of which cannot be explained to the satisfaction of the court;
the benefits derived by a deceased defendant from corruption shall be any property or interest therein held by him during the period mentioned in paragraph (a), being property or interest therein disproportionate to his known sources of income, and the holding of which cannot be explained to the satisfaction of the court; and
the value of the benefits derived by a deceased defendant from corruption shall be the aggregate of the values of those properties and interests therein less the value of any such benefits that are shown to have been taken into account by any court in determining the amount to be recovered under any confiscation order or order under section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241) previously made against the deceased defendant.
(5)
In this section,
Definition
“deceased defendant” means a person who dies —
after investigations for a corruption offence have been commenced against him; and
(i) before proceedings in respect of the offence have been instituted against him; or
if such proceedings have been instituted, before he is convicted of the offence.