Companies Act 1967 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 11A · Register of Controllers, Nominee Directors and Nominee Shareholders of Companies
386AE. Meaning of “legal privilege”
Last amended by an amending law of 2017.
Official textFrom Singapore Statutes Online, unchanged
For the purposes of this Part, information or a document is subject to legal privilege if —
document
“document” includes summons, order and other legal process, and notice and register;
it is a communication made between a lawyer and a client, or a legal counsel acting as such and the legal counsel’s employer, in connection with the lawyer giving legal advice to the client or the legal counsel giving legal advice to the employer, as the case may be;
it is a communication made between 2 or more lawyers acting for a client, or 2 or more legal counsel acting as such for their employer, in connection with one or more of the lawyers giving legal advice to the client or one or more of the legal counsel giving legal advice to the employer, as the case may be;
it is a communication made —
between a client, or an employer of a legal counsel, and another person;
between a lawyer acting for a client and either the client or another person; or
between a legal counsel acting as such for the legal counsel’s employer and either the employer or another person,in connection with, and for the purposes of, any legal proceedings (including anticipated or pending legal proceedings) in which the client or employer (as the case may be) is or may be, or was or might have been, a party;
it is an item, or a document (including its contents), that is enclosed with or mentioned in any communication in paragraph (a) or (b) and that is made or prepared by any person in connection with a lawyer or legal counsel, or one or more of the lawyers or legal counsel, in either paragraph giving legal advice to the client or the employer of the legal counsel, as the case may be; or
it is an item, or a document (including its contents), that is enclosed with or mentioned in any communication in paragraph (c) and that is made or prepared by any person in connection with, and for the purposes of, any legal proceedings (including anticipated or pending legal proceedings) in which the client or the employer of the legal counsel (as the case may be) is or may be, or was or might have been, a party,but it is not any such communication, item or document that is made, prepared or held with the intention of furthering a criminal purpose.
In subsection (1) —
“client”, in relation to a lawyer, includes an agent of or other person representing a client and, if a client has died, a personal representative of the client;
“employer”, in relation to a legal counsel, includes —
if the employer is one of a number of corporations that are related to each other under section 6, every corporation so related as if the legal counsel is also employed by each of the related corporations;
corporation
“corporation” means any body corporate formed or incorporated or existing in Singapore or outside Singapore and includes any foreign company but does not include —(a)any body corporate that is incorporated in Singapore and is by notification of the Minister in the Gazette declared to be a public authority or an instrumentality or agency of the Government or to be a body corporate which is not incorporated for commercial purposes;(b)any corporation sole;(c)any cooperative society;(d)any registered trade union; (da)any platform work association registered under the Platform Workers Act 2024; or(e)any limited liability partnership;
if the employer is a public agency within the meaning of section 128A(6) of the Evidence Act 1893 and the legal counsel is required as part of the legal counsel’s duties of employment or appointment to provide legal advice or assistance in connection with the application of the law or any form of resolution of legal dispute to any other public agency or agencies, the other public agency or agencies as if the legal counsel is also employed by the other public agency or each of the other public agencies; and
public agency
“public agency” means a public officer, an Organ of State or a ministry or department of the Government, or a body or authority established by or under any public Act to perform or discharge a public function, or a member, an officer or employee, or any department thereof;
an employee or officer of the employer;
officer
“officer”, in relation to a corporation, includes —(a)any director or secretary of the corporation or a person employed in an executive capacity by the corporation;(b)a receiver and manager of any part of the undertaking of the corporation appointed under a power contained in any instrument; and(c)any liquidator of a company appointed in a voluntary winding up,but does not include —(d)any receiver who is not also a manager;(e)any receiver and manager appointed by the Court;(f)any liquidator appointed by the Court or by the creditors; or(g)a judicial manager appointed under Part 7 of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018;
“lawyer” means a solicitor or a professional legal adviser, and includes an interpreter or other person who works under the supervision of a solicitor or a professional legal adviser;
“legal counsel” means a legal counsel as defined in section 3(7) of the Evidence Act 1893, and includes an interpreter or other person who works under the supervision of a legal counsel.
Terms defined in s 4
corporation
Defined · s 4“corporation” means any body corporate formed or incorporated or existing in Singapore or outside Singapore and includes any foreign company but does not include —(a)any body corporate that is incorporated in Singapore and is by notification of the Minister in the Gazette declared to be a public authority or an instrumentality or agency of the Government or to be a body corporate which is not incorporated for commercial purposes;(b)any corporation sole;(c)any cooperative society;(d)any registered trade union; (da)any platform work association registered under the Platform Workers Act 2024; or(e)any limited liability partnership;
document
Defined · s 4“document” includes summons, order and other legal process, and notice and register;
officer
Defined · s 4“officer”, in relation to a corporation, includes —(a)any director or secretary of the corporation or a person employed in an executive capacity by the corporation;(b)a receiver and manager of any part of the undertaking of the corporation appointed under a power contained in any instrument; and(c)any liquidator of a company appointed in a voluntary winding up,but does not include —(d)any receiver who is not also a manager;(e)any receiver and manager appointed by the Court;(f)any liquidator appointed by the Court or by the creditors; or(g)a judicial manager appointed under Part 7 of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018;
public agency
Defined · s 4“public agency” means a public officer, an Organ of State or a ministry or department of the Government, or a body or authority established by or under any public Act to perform or discharge a public function, or a member, an officer or employee, or any department thereof;
Part 12