SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Jason Lim, Sreenivasan Narayanan SC and Palaniappan Sundararaj, Sreenivasan Chambers LLC
Penalties Penalties for individuals and legal entities include imprisonment and/or fines under statutes such as the PC, the PCA and the CDSA. Individuals and compa - nies are subject to different penalty structures. Under the CDSA, the court can order confiscation of benefits from serious offences where it is satisfied that the offender had derived benefits from criminal conduct. Sentencing Factors In white collar crime cases, the courts have identified the following factors that may be considered in sen - tencing an offender: • the value of the assets that were misappropriated; • extent of harm caused; Mitigating factors would include co-operation with the authorities, personal and family circumstances, clean criminal record and remorse (as demonstrated by an early plea of guilt and/or restitution of monies). 6.3 Proceeds of Crime Recovery Confiscation Under the CDSA In Singapore, the crime recovery regime is primar - ily governed by the CDSA. Following an offender’s conviction for a serious offence, the High Court must make a value-based confiscation order in respect of the offender’s benefits. The amount to be recovered under the confiscation order is the amount the court assesses to be the value of the benefits derived by the offender from criminal conduct. The recoverable amount is capped at the amount appearing to the court to be the amount that can be realised (“realis - able property”). Realisable property includes any property held by the defendant and any property held by a person to whom the offender has directly or indirectly made a gift caught by the CDSA ie a gift made within the 6-year period preceding the date on which criminal proceedings were instituted against the offender. The • extent of distortion to the market; • abuse of trust and breach of trust; • difficulty of detection; and • criminal record.
from civil or criminal liability and do not constitute a breach of confidentiality obligations. In addition, the Code of Corporate Governance encourages listed companies to implement whistle- blowing policies that allow employees to report con - cerns confidentially. While there is no general statutory guarantee of ano - nymity, reporting channels (including STR submis - sions and reports to the Corrupt Practices Investiga - tion Bureau) are structured to protect the identity of informants in practice.
6. Resolutions, Sanctions and Remedies
6.1 Prosecution and Resolution Mechanisms In Singapore, financial crime cases are generally resolved in the following ways: • conclusion of investigations without a charge being brought; • withdrawal (either unconditionally or upon a warn - ing being given) or reduction of a charge after it is brought; • plea of guilt after a charge is brought; and • proceeding to trial. Plea discussions may occur between the accused and the Public Prosecutor, but any private “plea agree - ments” are not specifically enforceable. Deferred or non-prosecution agreements are available in certain circumstances but extremely rare. 6.2 Sanctions and Sentencing Factors influencing sentencing and mitigation include: • the offender was a public company; • damage to public confidence and reputational harm to financial institutions; • the degree of planning, pre-meditation and sophis - tication; and • period and frequency of offence.
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