Pillar II:
Strengthening Anti-Bribery Actions and
Promoting Integrity in Business Operations
(download pdf version)
Effective
Prevention, Investigation and Prosecution
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| Anti-Corruption
Action Plan - Pillars of Action |
Existing
Systems and Measures that Addresses the Pillars of Action |
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| Take effective measures to actively combat bribery by: |
Ensuring the existence of legislation with dissuasive sanctions which effectively
and actively combat the offence of bribery of public officials; |
> In
Singapore, the offences and sanctions on bribery are set out in the Prevention of
Corruption Act. This Act covers passive and active bribery committed by private or public
sector individuals in Singapore and by Singaporeans in another country. These offences and
their sanctions are set out in section 5, 6 and 37 of this Act : [Section 5 : Punishment for corruption
5. Any person who shall
by himself or by or in conjunction with any other person -
(a) corruptly solicit or receive, or agree to receive for himself, or for any other
person; or
(b) corruptly give, promise or offer to any person whether for the benefit of that person
or of another person,
any gratification as an
inducement to or reward for, or otherwise on account of -
(i) any person doing or forbearing to do anything in respect of any matter or transaction
whatsoever, actual or proposed; or
(ii) any member, officer or servant of a public body doing or forbearing to do anything in
respect of any matter or transaction whatsoever, actual or proposed, in which such public
body is concerned,
shall be guilty of an
offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.
Section 6: Punishment
for corrupt transactions with agents
6. If -
(a) any agent corruptly accepts or obtains, or agrees to accept or attempts to obtain,
from any person, for himself or for any other person, any gratification as an inducement
or reward for doing or forbearing to do, or for having done or forborne to do, any act in
relation to his principal’s affairs or business, or for showing or forbearing to show
favour or disfavour to any person in relation to his principal’s affairs or business;
(b) any person corruptly gives or agrees to give or offers any gratification to any agent
as an inducement or reward for doing or forbearing to do, or for having done or forborne
to do any act in relation to his principal’s affairs or business, or for showing or
forbearing to show favour or disfavour to any person in relation to his principal’s
affairs or business; or
(c) any person knowingly gives to an agent, or if an agent knowingly uses with intent to
deceive his principal, any receipt, account or other document in respect of which the
principal is interested, and which contains any statement which is false or erroneous or
defective in any material particular, and which to his knowledge is intended to mislead
the principal,
he shall be guilty of an
offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.
Section 37 : Liability
of citizens of Singapore for offences committed outside Singapore
37. - (1) The
provisions of this Act have effect, in relation to citizens of Singapore, outside as well
as within Singapore; and where an offence under this Act is committed by a citizen of
Singapore in any place outside Singapore, he may be dealt with in respect of that offence
as if it had been committed within Singapore.
(2) Any proceedings against
any person under this section which would be a bar to subsequent proceedings against that
person for the same offence, if the offence had been committed in Singapore, shall be a
bar to further proceedings against him, under any written law for the time being in force
relating to the extradition of persons, in respect of the same offence outside Singapore.]
Further, under section 10,
a contractor tendering for a Government contract is prevented from removing his rivals
from the field by means of a gratification. Sections 11 and 12 of this Act specifically
make it an offence to offer a bribe to any Member of Parliament or of a public body and
for any such member to solicit or accept a bribe.
With regard to sanctions, any person found
guilty under section 5, 6 and 37 will be liable to a maximum fine of $100,000 or a maximum
of 5 years imprisonment or to both. Any person found guilty under sections 10, 11 and 12
will be liable to a maximum fine of $100,000 or a maximum of 7 years imprisonment or to
both. Further, under section 13(1), the Courts are given the power to order a person found
guilty of accepting an illegal gratification to pay a penalty equal to the amount of that
gratification in addition to any other punishment imposed. |
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Ensuring the existence and effective enforcement of anti-money laundering
legislation that provide for substantial criminal penalties for the laundering of the
proceeds of corruption and crime consistent with the law of each country; |
> Money
laundering is dealt with in the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes
(Confiscation of Benefits) Act. Section 47 of the Act sets out both the offences and the
sanctions. Under this section, any person who knows or has reasonable grounds to believe
that any property represents another person’s benefits from criminal conducts and
conceals, disguises, converts, transfers that property or removes it from the jurisdiction
for the purpose of assisting any person to avoid prosecution will be guilty of an offence.
Further, any person
who knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that any property represents another
person’s benefits from criminal conduct and acquires that property for no or
inadequate consideration shall similarly be guilty of an offence. Any person found guilty
under this section is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 or a maximum of 7 years
imprisonment or to both.
The Monetary Authority of
Singapore (MAS) has issued separate guidelines on Prevention of Money Laundering to
different financial institutions (banks, merchant banks, finance companies, insurers,
securities firms, money changers and remittance businesses) in year 2000. The following
are links to the guidelines :
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Ensuring the existence and enforcement of rules to ensure that bribery offences are
thoroughly investigated and prosecuted by competent authorities; these authorities should
be empowered to order that bank, financial or commercial records be made available or be
seized and that bank secrecy be lifted. |
> The
Prevention of Corruption Act sets out the powers given to investigating authorities and
the Public Prosecutor. Powers given to the investigating authorities include :
(i) power to arrest persons without
warrant for offences under the Act (section 15);
(ii) power to exercise the special powers of police investigation contained in the
Criminal Procedure Code when investigating all offences under this Act (section 18) and;
(iii) power to search, seize and detail any article or property relating to the
commission of an offence under this Act (section 22).
Wide powers are also given
to the Public Prosecutor, whose consent is required for prosecution under the Act,
including
(i) power to authorise the
investigation of bank accounts, share accounts or purchase accounts (section 18);
(ii) power to order the inspection of banker’s books relating to a public
servant, his wife, child or agent (section 20), and
(iii) power to require suspected Government servants and employees of public bodies
to furnish sworn statements enumerating the property belonging to them, their spouses and
their children and any property sent outside Singapore. The power is extended to other
persons where the Public Prosecutor has reasonable grounds to believe that the information
will assist any investigations into corruption by a Government servant or employee o a
public body. The Public Prosecutor is also empowered to require information from the
Comptroller of Income Tax relating to such servants and employees and their immediate
families and to obtain any documents in the possession or control of Government
departments and public bodies. The Public Prosecutor may require the manager of a bank to
supply copies of bank accounts (section 21). |
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Strengthening of investigative and prosecutorial capacities by fostering
inter-agency co-operation, by ensuring that investigation and prosecution are free from
improper influence and have effective means for gathering evidence, by protecting those
persons helping the authorities in combating corruption, and by providing appropriate
training and financial resources. |
> Protection
of persons helping authorities in combating corruption is dealt with by section 36 of the
Prevention of Corruption Act. This section protects the identity of informers by
prohibiting the disclosure of any matter which might lead to his discovery in civil or
criminal proceedings. The courts adopt an open-court system in criminal proceedings, with
free public access. The Grounds of Decision are made public, and lower courts' decisions
are subject to appeal. |
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Strengthening bi- and multilateral co-operation in investigations and other legal
proceedings by developing systems which - in accordance with domestic legislation -
enhance (i) effective exchange of information and evidence, (ii) extradition where
expedient, and (iii) co-operation in searching and discovering of forfeitable assets as
well as prompt international seizure and repatriation of these forfeitable assets. |
> In April
2000, the Singapore Legislature enacted the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act.
Essentially, this Act enables Singapore to provide legal assistance in relation to serious
criminal offences, including corruption offences. It is important to note however, that
this Act will only apply if the Minister declares a foreign country to be a prescribed
foreign country and if there is in force an agreement between Singapore and that country
under which that country has agreed to provide mutual assistance to Singapore. Where the appropriate
authority of a prescribed foreign country makes a request for legal assistance for any
criminal proceedings pending in a court in the foreign country, the Attorney-General may
authorise for such legal assistance to be given.
The legal assistance which
may be given includes –
(i) production orders in criminal
matters (sections 22 and 23);
(ii) the making of arrangements for persons to give evidence or assist in criminal
investigations in a foreign country (sections 26 and 27);
(iii) the recovery, forfeiture or confiscation of property in respect of foreign
serious offences (section 29);
(iv) the restraining of dealings in property, or the freezing of assets, that may be
recovered, forfeited or confiscated in respect of offences (section 29); and
(v) the execution of requests for search and seizure (section 33).
Extradition for bribery is dealt with under
the Extradition Act. Subject to the requirements set out in this Act, the Minister has
discretion to authorise the apprehension of a fugitive and to surrender him to the
requesting country. |
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Corporate
Responsibility and Accountability
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| Anti-Corruption
Action Plan - Pillars of Action |
Existing
Systems and Measures that Addresses the Pillars of Action |
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| Take
effective measures to promote corporate responsibility and accountability on the basis of
existing relevant international standards through: |
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Promotion of good corporate governance which would provide for adequate internal
company controls such as codes of conduct, the establishment of channels for
communication, the protection of employees reporting corruption, and staff training; |
> The
Companies Act regulates the conduct of Singapore-incorporated companies. It contains
provisions on audit, reporting and corporate governance to ensure that companies have
adequate internal controls and accountability to their stakeholders. Companies that do not
comply with the law are taken to task by the Commercial Affairs Department and the
Registry of Companies and Businesses. In December 1999, the Government set up three private-sector-led
committees to review Singapore's corporate governance and regulatory framework. The 3
committees are: the Corporate Governance Committee (CGC), the Disclosure and Accounting
Standards Committee (DASC) and the Company Legislation and Regulatory Framework Committee
(CLRFC). The CGC and DASC have completed their reviews and submitted their final reports
to the Government. The Government has accepted all their recommendations. The CLRFC's
review is still on-going. The committee conducted its first public consultation from May
to July 2002. It expects to complete its review later this year.
The CGC came up with a Code
of Corporate Governance, which is benchmarked against the Codes in the leading
jurisdictions. The Code would serve as a set of guidelines and best practices for listed
companies in Singapore. Although compliance is not mandatory, listed companies have to
disclose and explain in their annual reports where they have deviated from the Code. This
requirement has been included in the Singapore Exchange's listing rules and would apply to
all listed companies for Annual General Meetings starting from 1 January 2003 .
The DASC made several
recommendations that would improve Singapore's corporate disclosure and reporting
requirements. The committee proposed that Singapore should as much as possible adopt
accounting standards that are set by the International Accounting Standards Board. It
recommended that compliance with accounting standards should be made a legal requirement
for companies, which would strengthen the enforcement framework and improve compliance.
The DASC also made recommendations to improve the frequency and contents of financial
reporting, especially by listed companies in Singapore.
Please also see the
following newspaper clippings relating to corporate governance :
a. Clipping marked as Annex A entitled
" S'pore most transparent Asia economy", which describes the survey result by
the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) in 2001; and
b. Clipping marked as Annex B entitled
S'pore disclosure rules 'tough enough', in which the Government commented on the new
disclosure rules proposed by US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Feb 2002. |
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The existence and the effective enforcement of legislation to eliminate any
indirect support of bribery such as tax deductibility of bribes; |
> Tax
deduction for bribes is not permitted. The Prevention of Corruption Act makes it an
offence to give, offer or receive any corrupt gratification, including money, any gift,
loan, commission, payment, service, favour or advantage of any description. |
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The existence and thorough implementation of legislation requiring transparent
company accounts and providing for effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for
omissions and falsifications for the purpose of bribing a public official, or hiding such
bribery, in respect of the books, records, accounts and financial statements of companies; |
> The
Companies Act has provisions that govern company accounts and audits. There are also
sections that make omissions/falsifications of statements/documents offences punishable
under the Act. The Penal Code also has sections that provide punishment for falsification
of accounts, making false documents and forgery. |
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Review of laws and regulations governing public licenses, government procurement
contracts or other public undertakings, so that access to public sector contracts could be
denied as a sanction for bribery of public officials. |
> The
Government Instruction Manual has guidelines requiring Ministries to constantly review
work methods and procedures (including those relating to public licenses) to prevent
corruption. Debarment of companies from public contract as a result of corruption
involving public officers is an existing measure under the Instruction Manual. |
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Background
documents
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Links:
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