Home Affairs Uniformed Services Superannuation Bill

“award officer” means any person appointed as an award officer under section 21(1);

“Board” means the Board of Trustees appointed under section 19 for the administration and management of the INVEST Fund;

“civil defence officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in the Civil Defence Service but excludes any auxiliary member of the Civil Defence Force and any civil defence officer who is a national serviceman;

“Fund” means the INVEST Fund established under Part III;

“intelligence officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in any scheme of service designated by the Minister;

“INVEST Plan” means the INVEST Plan established by regulations made under Part II;

“junior police officer” means a police officer who is below the rank of inspector;

“member” means a member of the INVEST Plan;

“narcotics officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in the Narcotics Service;

“national serviceman” has the same meaning as in the Enlistment Act (Cap. 93);

“police officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in the Police (Senior) Service or the Police (Junior) Service but excludes any auxiliary police officer, any member of the Special Constabulary constituted under Part VIII of the Police Force Act (Cap. 235) and any police officer who is a national serviceman;

“prison officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in the Prisons Service;

“senior police officer” means any police officer other than a junior police officer;

“service” means regular service (whether part-time or full-time) as a uniformed service officer;

“trustee” means a member of the Board appointed under section 19;

“uniformed service officer” means any civil defence officer, intelligence officer, narcotics officer, police officer or prison officer.

The Board shall cause to be kept proper accounts and records of all transactions and affairs relating to the Fund and shall ensure that payments out of the Fund are correctly made and properly authorised and that adequate control is maintained over the assets and receipts of the Fund.

The Minister shall, as soon as practicable after the close of each financial year, cause to be prepared and submitted financial statements in respect of that year to the auditor referred to in subsection (3).

The accounts and annual financial statements of the Fund shall be audited by the Auditor-General or such other auditor as may be appointed annually by the Minister in consultation with the Auditor-General.

A person shall not be qualified for appointment as an auditor under subsection (3) unless he is an approved company auditor within the meaning of the Companies Act (Cap. 50).

The remuneration of the auditor shall be paid out of the Fund.

As soon as the financial statements have been audited, the auditor shall send to the Minister a copy of the audited financial statements together with a copy of any report made by the auditor.

Where the Auditor-General is not the auditor of the Fund, a copy of the audited financial statements and any report made by the auditor shall be forwarded to the Auditor-General when they are submitted to the Minister.

The Minister shall as soon as practicable cause a copy of the audited financial statements and of the report of the auditor to be presented to Parliament.

The financial year of the Fund shall begin on 1st April of each year and end on 31st March of the succeeding year, except that the first financial year of the Fund shall begin on the date of commencement of this Act and end on 31st March of the succeeding year.

For successive periods of such duration, not exceeding 5 years, as the Minister may determine in each case, an examination of the Fund shall be made by a person appointed by the Minister with a view to determining the state of the Fund having regard to its prospective liabilities and the probable annual provisions required by the Fund to meet those liabilities.

Notwithstanding subsection (1), where an amendment is made to the INVEST Plan, and the amendment affects the cost of benefits payable under the INVEST Plan or creates an initial unfunded liability, the Minister may, for the purposes of section 12(1)(a), appoint a person to make an examination and report on the state of the Fund.

The person appointed under subsection (1) or (2) shall, at the end of his examination, report to the Minister for Finance and the Minister the state of the Fund having regard to its prospective liabilities and the probable annual provisions required by the Fund to meet those liabilities.

The Minister shall cause a copy of every such report to be presented to Parliament forthwith after receipt thereof.

The Minister shall by regulations establish an occupational superannuation scheme to be known as the INVEST Plan for the benefit of —

The regulations made under subsection (1) shall provide for the payment of —

The regulations made under subsection (1) may provide —

Subject to subsection (3), in making regulations under section 3(1), the Minister shall also provide —

Subject to subsection (3), the regulations made under section 3(1) in relation to the officers referred to in subsection (1) shall provide —

Any option exercised by any officer before the commencement of the regulations to join or not to join the INVEST Plan shall be deemed to be exercised in accordance with the regulations made under this section.

Nothing in this Act shall limit the right of the relevant appointing authority to dismiss any member from the uniformed services without compensation.

Subject to Article 113 of the Constitution, where it is established to the satisfaction of the relevant appointing authority that a member has been guilty of negligence, irregularity or misconduct, it shall be lawful for the relevant appointing authority to reduce or altogether withhold the pension, gratuity, allowance or other benefit for which the member would but for this section have become eligible under the INVEST Plan.

In this section, “relevant appointing authority” means —

No contribution by the Government made under the INVEST Plan and no interest thereon shall be subject to the debts of any member thereof, nor shall such contributions and interest pass to the Official Assignee on the bankruptcy of the member, and if the member is adjudicated a bankrupt or is declared insolvent by a court of law, such contributions and interest shall be deemed excluded from the property of the bankrupt for the purposes of the Bankruptcy Act (Cap. 20).

If, at the date of his retirement or resignation from the uniformed services, any member has been adjudged a bankrupt by judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, and he has not obtained his discharge from such adjudication or declaration, it shall be lawful for an award officer to refuse to grant any pension, gratuity or other allowance which would, if not for this subsection, be granted.

If any person to whom a pension or other allowance has been granted under this Act is adjudicated a bankrupt by judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, the Minister may direct that such pension or allowance shall forthwith cease, and thereupon such pension or allowance shall cease accordingly.

In any case where, by reason of bankruptcy of the former member, a pension, gratuity or allowance is not granted or where a pension or allowance ceases by virtue of a direction under subsection (3), it shall be lawful for the Minister, from time to time, during the remainder of the member’s or former member’s life, or during such shorter period or periods, either continuous or discontinuous, as the Minister thinks fit, to cause all or any part of the moneys to which such person would have been entitled by way of pension, gratuity or allowance, had he not become a bankrupt, to be paid to, or applied for the maintenance and personal support or benefit of, all or any (to the exclusion of the others) of the following persons in such proportions and manner as the Minister thinks proper:

When a person to whom a pension or allowance has not been granted or whose pension or allowance has ceased under this section obtains a full and proper discharge from his bankruptcy, his pension or allowance shall be restored to him with effect from the date of such discharge.

For the purposes of subsection (4), moneys applied for the discharge of the debts of the member or former member, as the case may be, shall be regarded as applied for his benefit.

If any person to whom a pension or other allowance has been granted under this Act is sentenced to death or penal servitude or any term of imprisonment, by any court of competent jurisdiction, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, for any crime or offence, the Minister may direct that such pension or allowance shall forthwith cease, and thereupon such pension or allowance shall cease accordingly.

Notwithstanding subsection (1), any pension or allowance that has ceased by virtue of a direction under subsection (1) shall be restored with retrospective effect in the case of a person who, after conviction, at any time receives a free pardon.

Where a pension or allowance ceases by virtue of a direction under subsection (1), it shall be lawful for the Minister to cause all or any part of moneys to which the person would have been entitled by way of pension or allowance to be paid to or applied for the benefit of his wife, child or children, or after the expiration of his sentence, also for the benefit of himself, in the same manner precisely and subject to the same qualifications and restrictions as in the case of bankruptcy provided in section 8.

There shall be established a fund to be called the INVEST Fund into which shall be paid all the following moneys:

There shall also be paid into the Fund such sum from the Pension Fund established by the Pension Fund Act (Cap. 224A) as the Minister for Finance may determine as the value of that part of the Pension Fund relating to all those officers in the uniformed services referred to in section 4(1)(a) who exercise an option in favour of joining the INVEST Plan in accordance with the regulations.

The Fund shall be deemed to be a Government fund for the purposes of any other written law, but shall be administered separately from all other Government funds.

Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act or regulations made under section 24, the Financial Procedure Act (Cap. 109) shall apply to the Fund.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(c), the net income from investments shall be the amount ascertained by adding to, or deducting from, the income received from investments of moneys in the Fund any profit derived or loss sustained, as the case may be, from the realisation of such investments.

The Fund shall be managed and administered by the Board appointed under section 19 subject to the direction and control of the Minister.

The Board shall furnish to the Minister such information relating to the general management and administration of the Fund as the Minister may, from time to time, require.

Notwithstanding section 7(3) of the Financial Procedure Act (Cap. 109), moneys standing to the credit of the Fund which are, in the opinion of the Board, moneys that are not for the time being required for the purpose of making payments out of the Fund under this Act and the INVEST Plan may, so far as is practicable, be invested by the Board in such stocks, funds, securities and investments as the Board thinks fit (but not any stock, bond or security issued by the Government) and in any manner, but the Board shall manage the Fund so that moneys that are from time to time required to pay benefits that are payable out of the Fund are available for that purpose.

The Board may invest moneys standing to the credit of the Fund that are available for investment through an investment manager or managers who undertake to invest, and manage the investment of those moneys on behalf of the Board.

If any investment manager is engaged by the Board under subsection (2), the Board shall ensure that the investment manager —

Subject to subsection (2), where the moneys in the Fund are insufficient to pay any pension, gratuity, allowance, compensation or other like benefit at the time when such payment becomes due under the INVEST Plan, the deficiency shall be charged on and payable out of the Consolidated Fund.

Subsection (1) shall apply only to any pension, gratuity, allowance, compensation or other like benefit —

No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Fund unless they are charged upon the Fund or are authorised or directed to be withdrawn or transferred under this Act.

No payment shall be made out of the Fund unless such payment is authorised by the Minister.

There shall be a Board of Trustees consisting of not less than 5 and not more than 15 persons, all of whom shall be appointed by the Minister.

The trustees shall be appointed for such period, not exceeding 3 years, as the Minister may specify in the instrument of appointment, and shall be eligible for re-appointment.

A trustee shall hold office on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Minister.

If at any time it appears to the Minister that removal from office of any of the trustees is necessary in the interests of the effective and economical performance of the functions of the Board under this Act, the Minister may remove from office so many of those trustees as he considers necessary in those interests.

All trustees shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of the Penal Code (Cap. 224).

All trustees shall be deemed to be public officers for the purposes of the Financial Procedure Act (Cap. 109) and section 20 of that Act shall apply to such persons notwithstanding that they are not or were not in the employment of the Government.

The functions of the Board are to manage and invest the Fund in accordance with the provisions of this Act including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following functions:

The Board shall have power to do all things necessary or convenient to be done for, or in connection with, the performance of its functions and, in particular, may —

In exercising its functions and powers, the Board shall have regard to —

The trustees shall not, by reason only of their having made such appointment or engagement under subsection (2)(a) or (b), be responsible for any default of the agent, attorney, consultant or investment manager if appointed or engaged in good faith.

The Minister —

The INVEST Plan shall be administered by award officers appointed under subsection (1) subject to the direction and control of the Minister and, except as otherwise provided by any regulations made under Part II in relation to the INVEST Plan, no award of benefits under the INVEST Plan shall be subject to appeal to any court.

The Minister, or any person appointed by him for this purpose, may, on appeal, review any award of benefits by any award officer, and for this purpose may vary any award made by an award officer, whether by increasing or decreasing such award, and the decision of the Minister or such person so appointed shall be final and conclusive and shall not be subject to appeal to any court.

Every appeal against any award of benefits under the INVEST Plan shall be brought within 12 months of the date the appellant is notified of the decision of an award officer, or such longer period as the Minister or person appointed under subsection (3) may allow in any particular case.