Singapore legislation

Section 236C

of Securities and Futures Act 2001

Section 236C

Civil penalty when corporation fails to prevent or detect contravention by employee or officer

Amended by2/20092/20094/20172/20092/20092/2009

(1)

A corporation which fails to prevent or detect a contravention of any provision in this Part committed by an employee or officer of the corporation (called in this section the contravening person), which contravention is —

(a)

committed for the benefit of the corporation; and

(b)

attributable to the negligence of the corporation,commits a contravention and shall be liable to an order for a civil penalty under this section.

Amended by2/2009

(2)

Where it appears to the Authority that a corporation has committed a contravention under subsection (1), the Authority may, with the consent of the Public Prosecutor, bring an action in a court against the corporation to seek an order for a civil penalty.

Amended by2/2009

(3)

If the court is satisfied on a balance of probabilities that the corporation has committed a contravention under subsection (1), the court may make an order against the corporation for the payment of a civil penalty of a sum not less than $100,000 but not exceeding the greater of the following:

(a)

3 times —

(i)

the amount of the profit that the corporation gained as a result of the contravention by the contravening person; or

(ii)

the amount of the loss that the corporation avoided as a result of the contravention by the contravening person;

(b)

$2 million.

Amended by4/2017

(4)

[Deleted by Act 4 of 2017]

(5)

Sections 232(4) to (7) and 233 apply in relation to an action brought against a corporation under subsection (2) as they apply in relation to an action under section 232.

Amended by2/2009

(6)

Any defence that would be available to the contravening person if the contravening person were prosecuted for the contravening person’s contravention is also available to the corporation in an action under subsection (2) in respect of its failure to prevent or detect that contravention.

Amended by2/2009

(7)

For the purposes of subsection (1), in determining whether a contravention is attributable to the negligence of a corporation, the court is to take into account the following matters:

(a)

whether the corporation has established adequate policies and procedures for the purposes of preventing and detecting market misconduct;

(b)

whether the corporation has consistently enforced compliance with its policies and procedures referred to in paragraph (a);

(c)

such other factors as the court may consider relevant.

Amended by2/2009