SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Jason Lim, Sreenivasan Narayanan SC and Palaniappan Sundararaj, Sreenivasan Chambers LLC
police officer to require any person who appears to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of a case to attend and provide information. Search and Seizure Powers Section 24 of the CPC provides that a court may authorise a police officer to search any premises and seize property connected with an offence. In urgent situations, Section 34 of the CPC permits searches without warrants where there is reasonable cause to believe that delay would result in the removal, con - cealment or destruction of evidence. Asset Tracing, Freezing and Confiscation Singapore’s asset recovery regime is primarily gov - erned by the CPC and the CDSA. Under Section 35 of the CPC, police officers may seize property suspect - ed to be connected to an offence, including property used or intended to be used in committing an offence, or which constitutes evidence. In addition, Section 16 of the CDSA empowers the courts to issue restraint orders to prevent dealing with realisable property pending criminal proceed - ings. Upon conviction for relevant offences, the court may also order confiscation of benefits derived from criminal conduct. These powers extend to tracing, freezing and confis - cating assets, including proceeds of crime. In prac - tice, they also apply to digital assets and cryptocur - rencies where they constitute “property” or “realisable property” under the statutory framework. 2.4 Use of Technology and Data Singapore’s enforcement authorities increasingly lev - erage technology in the detection, investigation and prevention of financial crime. MAS has invested sig - nificantly in supervisory technology (“SupTech”) to enhance its oversight capabilities. This includes the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, natural language processing, big data analytics and distributed ledger technology to aid in MAS’ supervi - sion and regulatory compliance. MAS has also developed a digital platform by the name of “COSMIC” (Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing (ML/TF) Information &
Cases). This was developed in collaboration with six major commercial banks in Singapore (DBS, OCBC, UOB, SCB, Citibank and HSBC). One of COSMIC’s features enables financial institutions to share infor - mation on customers who exhibit multiple “red flags” with each other. 2.5 Internal Investigations and Co-Operation Financial institutions regulated by MAS are expected to conduct internal investigations where potential breaches of anti-money laundering, sanctions or market conduct requirements are identified. Corpo - rates and financial institutions may also initiate internal investigations following whistle-blower reports, com - pliance alerts or the receipt of regulatory queries. The findings of internal investigations may be reported to relevant authorities, and in some cases, such reports may influence the scope and direction of subsequent regulatory or criminal investigations. Legal professional privilege is recognised in Singapore and generally protects communications between a cli - ent and their legal adviser made for the purpose of obtaining or providing legal advice, as well as commu - nications made in contemplation of litigation. Privilege may be claimed over documents generated during internal investigations, provided the dominant pur - pose of the investigation was to obtain legal advice or in connection with anticipated litigation. However, the scope of privilege in the context of internal investiga - tions requires careful consideration, particularly where fact-finding and legal advice functions are intertwined. Data protection obligations under the PDPA apply to the collection, use and disclosure of personal data during internal investigations. Organisations must ensure that any processing of personal data in the course of an investigation complies with the PDPA’s requirements, including the obligation to obtain con - sent or rely on an applicable exception. Employment law considerations also arise in the context of internal investigations. Employers must exercise care when interrogating or questioning employees, taking disciplinary action against staff or dismissing them, to avoid claims for wrongful dis - missal, harassment or breach of contract.
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