Singapore legislation
Section 78
Section 78
Power to require information, etc.
(1)
The Authority or any officer authorised by the Authority in that behalf (called in this section the authorised officer) may, for the purposes of conducting an investigation or for discharging the Authority’s functions under this Act, by order require any person to produce to the Authority any document, or to provide the Authority with any information, which the Authority considers to be related to any matter relevant to the investigation or for discharging its functions under this Act.
(2)
The Authority or the authorised officer is entitled without payment to keep any copy or extract of any document furnished to the Authority or the authorised officer under subsection (1).
(3)
The Authority or the authorised officer has, at all reasonable times in the day, full and free access to all buildings, places, books, documents and other papers for the purpose of conducting an investigation or discharging functions of the Authority under this Act, and may, without payment, inspect, copy or make extracts from any such books, documents or papers.
(4)
The Authority may take possession of any equipment, books, documents or papers where in its opinion —
the equipment, books, documents or papers may be interfered with or destroyed unless possession is taken; or
the equipment, books, documents or papers may be required as evidence in proceedings for an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act.
(5)
The rights conferred by this section include, in relation to information recorded otherwise than in legible form, the right to require the information to be made available in legible form for inspection or for a copy or extract to be made of or from it.
(6)
The power under this section to require a person to produce a document includes the power —
if the document is produced, to require such person, or any person who is a present or past officer of the person or is or was at any time employed by the person, to provide an explanation of the document; or
if the document is not produced, to require such person to state, to the best of the person’s knowledge and belief, where it is.
(7)
Any person who —
fails to comply with any requirement specified in any order under subsection (1);
intentionally alters, suppresses or destroys any document or information which the person has been required by any order under subsection (1) to produce or provide; or
in furnishing any information required of the person under any order under subsection (1), makes any statement which the person knows to be false in a material particular, or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular,shall be guilty of an offence.
(8)
If a person is charged with an offence under subsection (7) in respect of a requirement to produce any document or provide any information under subsection (1), it is a defence for the person to prove that —
the document was not in the possession or under the control of the person;
it was not reasonably practicable for the person to comply with the requirement; or
the person had a reasonable excuse for failing to provide the information required.
(9)
A person is not obliged under this section to disclose any particulars as to which the person is under any statutory obligation to observe secrecy.
(10)
In this section and sections 81 and 83 —
Definition
“document” includes any electronic record;
Definition
“electronic record” has the meaning given by the Electronic Transactions Act 2010.[59