SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Jason Lim, Sreenivasan Narayanan SC and Palaniappan Sundararaj, Sreenivasan Chambers LLC
3.2 Bribery and Corruption General Bribery Offences (Public and Private Sectors) Section 5 of the PCA sets out a broad offence cover - ing both public and private sector bribery. It criminal - ises corrupt solicitation, receipt, agreement to receive, giving, promising or offering of any gratification as an inducement or reward for doing (or refraining from doing) any act in relation to any matter or transaction. The offence is punishable by a fine of up to SGD100,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years. Bribery Involving Agents (Private Sector Focus) Section 6 specifically addresses bribery involving agents and principals (commonly arising in the private sector). An offence is made out where an agent cor - ruptly accepts or obtains gratification as an induce - ment or reward in relation to the principal’s affairs. The key elements include: • the receipt or solicitation of gratification; • a corrupt inducement or reward; • an objectively corrupt transaction; and • knowledge of the corrupt nature of the arrange - ment. Public Sector Bribery Public sector bribery is subject to stricter treatment. Under Section 8 of the PCA, where gratification is given to or received by a person employed by the government or a public body, there is a rebuttable presumption that the gratification was corruptly given or received. Bribery involving members of parliament or members of public bodies attracts enhanced penalties of up to SGD100,000 in fines and/or imprisonment of up to seven years. Foreign Public Officials and Extraterritoriality Bribery of foreign public officials is not a separate offence but falls within the general offences under the PCA. However, the PCA has extraterritorial reach in relation to Singapore citizens, who can be prosecuted for corrupt acts committed outside Singapore as if the offence occurred within Singapore.
• abuse a position in which a person is expected to safeguard or not act against another’s financial interests. The offence is punishable with imprisonment of up to 20 years and/or a fine. Misappropriation of Property/Criminal Breach of Trust/Cheating These offences are dealt with in the Penal Code with sentences depending on the role of the offender (eg, whether agent, director or fiduciary), subject matter (eg, accounting entry or valuable security) and meth - od. As both the offences and possible punishment rage widely, specific advice should always be sought. Within each category, the AGC has significant discre - tion in relation to the section to proceed under; and hence the likely punishment outcome. CBT is punishable with imprisonment of up to seven years and/or a fine. Higher penalties apply in respect of aggravated CBT offences. CBT offences commit - ted by an employee entrusted with property attract a maximum of 15 years imprisonment, and up to 20 years’ imprisonment where such offences are commit - ted by a public servant, banker, agent, director, key executive or fiduciary. Forgery Under Section 463 PC, forgery is committed where a person makes any false document with the intent to commit fraud, to cause any person to part with prop - erty or to cause damage or injury to any person. Under Section 465 PC, forgery is punishable with imprison - ment of up to four years and/or a fine. Where forgery is committed for the purpose of cheating, the penalty is up to ten years’ imprisonment and/or a fine. Criminal Conspiracy Under Section 120A PC, criminal conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit an offence or cause an offence to be committed. A conspirator is generally punishable in the same man - ner as if they had abetted the substantive offence. This means that the sentencing range for a criminal conspiracy offence would depend on the substantive offence.
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