SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Randolph Khoo, See Chern Yang, Tan Ei Leen and Sharon Ki, Drew & Napier
Drew & Napier 10 Collyer Quay 10th Floor Ocean Financial Centre 049315 Singapore Tel: +65 6535 0733 Fax: +65 6535 4906 Email: mail@drewnapier.com Web: www.drewnapier.com
1. Identifying Assets in the Jurisdiction 1.1 Options to Identify Another Party’s Asset Position There are sources of publicly available information that may help identify another party’s asset position, upon payment of the prescribed fees. These comprise the following: • the e-services of the Ministry of Law’s Insolvency Office, where information can be obtained on the bankruptcy status of individuals and the solvency status of a body corporate; • the Integrated Land Information Service offered by the Singapore Land Authority, where information on ownership details and encumbrances may be obtained; and • the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Author - ity (ACRA) Business Information database, where details on the following may be obtained: (a) the basic profile of a company or business, such as its registration number, business activi - ties, registration date, office-holders and busi - ness owners; (b) financial information for companies that file accounts as part of their annual returns (Singa - pore-incorporated companies are required to file annual returns with ACRA, but Singapore- registered solvent exempt private limited companies are not required to file financial statements); and (c) an individual’s past and present businesses, offices held and shareholdings.
Applications may also be made to court to obtain information on the assets of another party under the following circumstances: • prior to legal action being started, applications may be made for pre-action discovery and interrogato - ries that may lead to disclosures as to a potential defendant’s assets; • a party entitled to enforcement of a judgment may apply for an order that a judgment debtor or its directors be examined in court to disclose informa - tion and relevant documents disclosing its avail - able assets; and • applications may be made to court for freezing orders to prevent a party from dissipating assets while also requiring such a party to file disclosures of information as to its assets. Limited information on aircraft, ships and motor vehi - cles may also be obtained from searches performed with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore and the website of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore (known as “OneMotoring”), respectively. Private investigators are sometimes also engaged to locate and identify the assets of another party. Evi - dence from such investigations is generally admis - sible in civil proceedings in Singapore, although the civil courts have the discretion to exclude evidence in circumstances where the prejudicial effect of such evidence outweighs its probative value. The ambit of such discretion remains unclear – although develop - ing case law on the subject suggests that unlawfully
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