Singapore legislation
Section 73
Section 73
Investigation by Authority
(1)
The Authority may conduct such investigation as it considers necessary or expedient for any of the following purposes:
to determine whether —
a licensee, an exempt payment service provider, or a person exempt under section 100 is carrying on its business in a manner likely to be detrimental to the interests of its customers;
a licensee, an exempt payment service provider, or a person exempt under section 100 is conducting its business of providing any payment service in a proper manner;
an operator of a designated payment system, or a licensee that is the operator of a payment system, is operating the payment system in a manner likely to be detrimental to the interests of its customers or of the participants of the payment system;
an operator of a designated payment system, or a licensee that is the operator of a payment system, is operating the payment system in a proper manner;
a settlement institution of a designated payment system, or a licensee that is a settlement institution of a payment system, is carrying on its business as a settlement institution in a manner likely to be detrimental to the interests of the participants of the payment system;
a settlement institution of a designated payment system, or a licensee that is a settlement institution of a payment system, is conducting its business as a settlement institution in a proper manner; or
a participant of a designated payment system, or a licensee that is a participant of a payment system, is carrying on its business as such participant in a manner likely to be detrimental to the interests of the other participants of the payment system;
to investigate any alleged or suspected offence or contravention of any provision of this Act;
to ensure compliance with this Act or any written notice issued by the Authority under this Act.
(2)
For the purposes of subsection (1) —
the Authority may, by written notice, require any person to provide information or to produce books relating to any matter under investigation, and that person must immediately comply with that requirement;
the Authority may make copies of, or take possession of, any such books;
the Authority may use, or permit the use of, any such books for the purposes of any proceedings under this Act; and
subject to subsection (4), the Authority may retain possession of any such books for so long as is necessary —
for the purposes of exercising a power conferred by this section;
for a decision to be made on whether or not proceedings should be commenced under this Act in relation to such books; or
for such proceedings to be commenced and carried on.
(3)
A person is not entitled, as against the Authority, to claim a lien on any of the books, but such a lien is not otherwise prejudiced.
(4)
While the books are in the possession of the Authority, the Authority —
must permit another person to inspect at all reasonable times such (if any) of the books as the other person would be entitled to inspect if they were not in the possession of the Authority; and
may permit another person to inspect any of the books.
(5)
The Authority may require a person that produced any book to the Authority to explain, to the best of the person’s knowledge and belief, any matter about the compilation of the book or to which the book relates.
(6)
The Authority may exercise any of its powers for the purposes of conducting an investigation under this section despite the provisions of any prescribed written law (or any requirement imposed under the prescribed written law) or any rule of law.
(7)
A requirement imposed by the Authority in the exercise of its powers under this section has effect despite any obligation as to secrecy or other restrictions upon the disclosure of information imposed by any prescribed written law (or any requirement imposed under the prescribed written law), rule of law, contract or rule of professional conduct.
(8)
A person that complies with a requirement imposed by the Authority in the exercise of its powers under this section is not to be treated as being in breach of any restriction on the disclosure of the information imposed by any prescribed written law (or any requirement imposed under the prescribed written law), rule of law, contract or rule of professional conduct.
(9)
No civil or criminal proceedings shall lie against any person for —
providing information or producing books to the Authority, if the person provided the information or produced the books in good faith in compliance with a requirement imposed by the Authority under this section; or
doing or omitting to do any act, if the person did or omitted to do the act in good faith and as a result of complying with a requirement imposed by the Authority under this section.
(10)
A person that, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (2)(a) or a requirement of the Authority under subsection (5) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —
in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $5,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction; or
in any other case, to a fine not exceeding $100,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $10,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction.
(11)
In this section, “prescribed written law” means this Act, or any of the following Acts, and any subsidiary legislation made under this Act or those Acts:
Banking Act 1970;
Credit Bureau Act 2016;
Deposit Insurance and Policy Owners’ Protection Schemes Act 2011;
Finance Companies Act 1967;
Financial Advisers Act 2001;
Financial Holding Companies Act 2013;
Insurance Act 1966;
Monetary Authority of Singapore Act 1970;
Securities and Futures Act 2001;
Trust Companies Act 2005;
such other Act as the Authority may prescribe.