Singapore legislation
Section 425B
Section 425B
Information not to be disclosed if prejudicial to national or public interests, etc.
(1)
If —
at any time after the commencement of a criminal investigation, any person makes an application to the officer of a law enforcement agency who is in charge of the investigation for information in any document or thing relating to the investigation; and
the document or thing contains any sensitive information,the officer may cause the sensitive information to be removed or sufficiently redacted before disclosing the contents or giving a copy of the document or thing to the person, whether or not the disclosure of the sensitive information is required by law.
(2)
Subject to subsection (3), for the purposes of any criminal proceedings, the prosecution may cause any sensitive information contained in any document or thing relating to the proceedings that is in the prosecution’s possession or control to be removed or sufficiently redacted before disclosing the contents or giving a copy of the document or thing to the defence, whether or not the disclosure of the sensitive information is required by law.
(3)
The prosecution must not cause any information to be removed or redacted under subsection (2) if —
the prosecution intends to rely on the information as evidence for the purposes of the proceedings; or
the disclosure of the information is required by any rule of law relating to the disclosure of unused material that tends to undermine the prosecution’s case or to strengthen the defence’s case.
(4)
If the defence is aggrieved by the removal or redaction of any information by the prosecution under subsection (2), the defence may apply to the following court to order the disclosure of the information:
where the disclosure of the contents or giving a copy of the document or thing was made for the purposes of a criminal case disclosure conference held under Part 9 or 10, the court conducting the criminal case disclosure conference;
where the disclosure of the contents or giving a copy of the document or thing was made for the purposes of a pre-trial conference held under Part 9 or 10, the court conducting the pre-trial conference;
where the disclosure of the contents or giving a copy of the document or thing was made for the purposes of a trial, the court conducting the trial.
(5)
The court hearing an application under subsection (4) must view the information removed or redacted by the prosecution in the absence of the defence.
(6)
If an application under subsection (4) is made in criminal proceedings that are heard in open court, the application must be heard and dealt with in camera.
(7)
If —
a court determines, upon an application made under subsection (4), that the information may not be removed or redacted by the prosecution under subsection (2) read with subsection (3); and
the disclosure of the information to the defence is required by law,the court must order the prosecution to disclose the information to the defence by such date as the court determines.
(8)
The court making an order under subsection (7) must, upon an application by the prosecution based on any reasonable grounds, postpone the date mentioned in that subsection to such other date as the court deems fit.
(9)
To avoid doubt, this section does not affect the operation of any rule of law concerning privilege, secrecy or the protection or non‑disclosure of any information.
(10)
In this section, “sensitive information” means information that, if disclosed —
may be prejudicial to the public safety, public security or propriety, public order, national interest or national security of Singapore or any part of Singapore;
may endanger the safety of any particular person;
may prejudice the effective conduct of any ongoing or future operation or investigation of any law enforcement agency; or
may otherwise be prejudicial to the interests of justice in any criminal investigation or criminal proceedings.