Clause 15

The Attorney-General or any person duly authorised by him in writing may, for the purpose of an investigation into a drug trafficking offence or a serious offence, as the case may be, apply to the High Court for an order under subsection (2) in relation to any particular material or material of a particular description.(2) The High Court may, if on such an application it is satisfied that the conditions referred to in subsection (3) are fulfilled, make an order that the financial institution which appears to the Court to be in possession of the material to which the application relates shall —

produce the material to the Attorney-General or the person duly authorised by him for the Attorney-General or such person to take away; or

give the Attorney-General or the person duly authorised by him access to the material,within a reasonable period, but not less than 7 days, as the order may specify.(3) The conditions referred to in subsection (2) are —

that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that a specified person has carried on or has benefited from drug trafficking or criminal conduct, as the case may be;

that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the material to which the application relates —

is likely to be of substantial value (whether by itself or together with other material) to the investigation for the purpose of which the application is made; and

does not consist of or include items subject to legal privilege; and

that there are reasonable grounds for believing that it is in the public interest to produce the material to which the application relates.(4) A financial institution which complies with an order made under subsection (2) shall not be treated as being in breach of any restriction upon the disclosure of information or material imposed by law, contract or rules of professional conduct.(5) No action shall lie against a financial institution which in good faith produces materials or gives access to materials relating to the account of its customer by reason of that financial institution having produced or given access to the materials in compliance with an order made against it under subsection (2) or any act done or omitted to be done in relation to any funds, investment or property in the account of that customer in consequence of the production of or access to those materials.(6) The proceedings for an application for a production order under this section shall be heard in camera.(7) In this section, “items subject to legal privilege” has the same meaning as in section 33(2).Production orders to obtain information to assist foreign authority investigating drug trafficking or criminal conduct26B.—

The Attorney-General or any person duly authorised by him in writing may make an application under section 26A for the purpose of assisting a foreign authority in its investigation into a foreign drug trafficking offence or a foreign serious offence, as the case may be, in relation to any particular material or material of a particular description if and only if the conditions in subsection (2) are fulfilled in addition to those in section 26A(3).(2) The conditions referred to in subsection (1) are —

that there exists a mutual legal assistance treaty, memorandum of understanding or other agreement in drug-related matters or criminal matters, as the case may be, between Singapore and the foreign government and the conditions therein have been fulfilled in respect of any particular request for assistance from the Attorney-General, which conditions shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the conditions in this subsection;

that the foreign authority has agreed to provide reciprocal assistance in drug-related matters or criminal matters, as the case may be, to Singapore;

that the foreign drug trafficking offence or foreign serious offence, as the case may be, which is the subject of the investigation constitutes an offence against the law of, or of a part of, the state of the foreign authority and the act or omission constituting the offence or the equivalent act or omission would, if it had occurred in Singapore, have constituted a drug trafficking offence or a serious offence, as the case may be;

that the seriousness of the foreign drug trafficking offence or foreign serious offence under investigation, as the case may be, is of sufficient gravity and the material which is the subject of the application is of sufficient importance to the investigation and whether the material could not reasonably be obtained by other means;

that the assistance is not likely to prejudice the sovereignty, security or national interest of Singapore;

that it is not contrary to the public interest to give the assistance sought;

that the foreign authority undertakes that the material sought if granted by the High Court pursuant to a production order shall not be used for any other purposes except for the investigation of the foreign drug trafficking offence or foreign serious offence, as the case may be, or for the prosecution of the offender concerned and the material shall be returned to the Attorney-General upon completion of the investigation or the proceedings against the offender; and

such other conditions as the Minister may prescribe.(3) The proceedings for an application for a production order under subsection (1) shall be heard in camera.”.