Singapore legislation
Section 10
Section 10
Power to obtain information
(1)
The Director-General or an authorised officer may give written notice to any person (whether in or outside Singapore) requiring the person to provide, within such reasonable period and in such form and manner as specified in the notice, all documents and information —
which relate to any matter necessary to carry out the functions or duties of, or assigned to, the Director‑General or the Agency by or under any provision of this Act; and
which are within that person’s knowledge or in that person’s custody or under that person’s control.
(2)
The power to require a person to provide any document or information under subsection (1) includes the power —
to require that person, or any individual who is or was an officer or employee of that person, to provide an explanation of the document or information;
if the document or information is not provided, to require that person to state, to the best of that person’s knowledge and belief, where it is; and
if the information is recorded otherwise than in legible form, to require the information to be made available to the Agency in legible form.
(3)
A notice under subsection (1) must be served on a person in the following manner and no other manner:
where the person is an individual in Singapore — by delivering the notice personally to the person;
where the person is a body corporate, an unincorporated association or a partnership in Singapore — by delivering the notice personally to an officer of the body corporate or unincorporated association, or a partner of the partnership;
where the person is a body corporate, an unincorporated association or a partnership in Singapore and participates in the management of a body corporate, an unincorporated association or a partnership outside Singapore — by delivering the notice personally to an officer of the firstmentioned body corporate or unincorporated association, or a partner of the firstmentioned partnership;
where the person is a body corporate, an unincorporated association or a partnership which does not have any place of business in Singapore — by delivering the notice personally to an officer of the body corporate or unincorporated association, or a partner of the partnership when the officer or partner is in Singapore;
where the person has consented to the service of the notice by any mode — by that mode.
(4)
A notice under subsection (1) to any person takes effect only from the date the notice is served on the person and must also specify the period (which runs from the date the notice takes effect) within which the person must comply with the notice.
(5)
Where a court is satisfied that any person served with a notice under subsection (1) intends to leave Singapore, the court may, on the application of the Public Prosecutor but after giving due regard to the person’s circumstances, by order require the person to remain in Singapore for such period as the court considers reasonable to ensure that the person complies with the notice.
(6)
If a person (whether in or outside Singapore) who is served with a notice under subsection (1), without reasonable excuse, fails to do or refrain from doing anything required of the person by that notice, the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to both.
(7)
If a person in Singapore on whom a notice under subsection (1) is served —
intentionally alters, suppresses or destroys any document or information which the person has been required by the notice to provide; or
in providing any document or information required by the notice, makes any statement which the person knows to be false in a material particular, or recklessly makes such a statement,that person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.
(8)
If any person fails to comply with a notice under subsection (1), the court may, on the application of the Director‑General or an authorised officer, make such order as the court thinks fit to secure compliance with that notice, and any such order may provide that all the costs or expenses of and incidental to the application must be borne by that person or by any officer or employee of that person who is responsible for the failure.
(9)
Where a notice under subsection (1) is issued in connection with investigations into a suspected offence under this Act, the Agency through an authorised officer may, at any time after the expiry of the period specified in the notice, enter any building or place where the Agency has reason to believe that any document or information, in respect of which it has given the notice, may be found, and seize or take extracts from or copies of any such document or information.
(10)
The Agency is entitled without payment to keep any document or information, or any copy or extract thereof, provided to it under subsection (1) or obtained under subsection (9).
(11)
In this section —
Definition
“body corporate” includes a limited liability partnership registered under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005;
Definition
“officer” —
in relation to a body corporate, means any director, partner, member of the committee of management, chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity; or
in relation to an unincorporated association (other than a partnership), means the president, the secretary, or any member of the committee of the unincorporated association, or any person holding a position analogous to that of president, secretary or member of a committee and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity;
Definition
“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.