Singapore legislation
Section 24
Section 24
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 10 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 drug trafficking or in determining those benefits or the value of those benefits:
a deceased defendant shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have derived benefits from drug trafficking if he had, at any time (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) 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 drug trafficking 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 drug trafficking 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 previously made against the deceased defendant.
(5)
In this section,
Definition
“deceased defendant” means a person who dies —
after investigations for a drug trafficking offence have been commenced against him; and
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.