K Shanmugam
Singapore
“Bank accounts are frozen when there is reason to suspect that the bank accounts are involved in illicit activities, including money laundering activities.”
“The Singapore Police Force does not track the requested data. Distinguishing artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content typically requires more detailed forensic examination which may not be necessary in every investigation and may also not be conclusive as to whether AI-generative tools were used.”
“The Building and Construction Authority’s Code on Accessibility provides baseline requirements for accessible and inclusive buildings. It stipulates a minimum width of 1.5 metres or 1.8 metres for primary accessible routes, depending on the building type.”
“The Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Driving Licence) Rules under the Road Traffic Act set out the scope of the medical assessment required for motorists aged 65 and above who wish to retain their driving licences.”
“When a Police report has been made, the Police will investigate to determine if a criminal offence has been committed. If there is reasonable suspicion that a case is scam-related, the Police can direct online service providers to restrict Singapore users' access to the relevant online activity under the Online Criminal Harms Act.”
“Through intelligence sharing and coordinated enforcement actions, the cross-border operation disrupted a transnational drug trafficking syndicate and downstream drug trafficking activities, with the UK arresting seven persons so far and further investigations underway.”
The complete record
Every one of 4,552 lines we hold for K Shanmugam, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 14 of 92.
“He killed a father and son – brutal murders. I think people remember them as the “Kovan double murder case” – a 67-year-old father and a 42-year-old son. In fact, one of the victims was even dragged almost one kilometre along Upper Serangoon Road. And he did it for money. He was sentenced to capital punishment on 4 December 2015 by the High Court. His appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in February 2017, seven years ago. Since then, he has filed nine applications. [Please refer to "Clarification by Minister for Home Affairs", Official Report, 08 May 2024, Vol 95, Issue 136, Correction By Written Statement section.] Some of them are still ongoing and I make no comment whatsoever about those which are currently before the Courts. Those that have been dealt with, have all been dismissed. And quite clearly, unmeritorious and an abuse of process. So, to deal better with this situation, to deal better with unmeritorious applications being filed at the very last minute before capital punishment is carried out, this House passed an Act, the Post-appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act, or PACC. That Act will come into force very soon, within a few weeks. The Act will seek to safeguard the administration of justice and the rule of law. It introduces new requirements to reduce potential delays to proceedings. For example, if the PACP had already had his or her sentence upheld by the Court of Appeal, then he or she will be required to apply for permission to make a PACC application. There will be a streamlined procedure under which only the Court of Appeal may hear PACC applications and grant a stay of execution. As part of the application, the person will be required to state the grounds of the application and the reasons for not filing the application earlier.”
“Five parties – Transformative Justice Collective, The Online Citizen Asia, Andrew Loh, Kirsten Han, M Ravi – continued to make false statements alleging that a PACP was denied an interpreter during the recording of his statement. This, despite the Court's clear statement to the contrary – a blatant, false attack on the criminal justice system. Some of these activists have helped to file unmeritorious legal applications on behalf of convicted drug traffickers. Applications are often filed at the last minute and those who help with these applications often hide behind the PACPs and their families. In one case, there were seven post-appeal applications, all dismissed by the Courts because they were all without merit. Seven, one after the other, no basis, after the substantive appeal was dismissed. In the seventh post-appeal application, the correspondent's email address – kirstenhan@hey.com – was provided by a family member to the Court. This obviously does not belong to the family, but to perhaps an anti-death penalty activist. The Court dismissed that application, said it was a blatant and ill-disguised application to disrupt the carrying out of the sentence. In other words, a clear abuse of the process. The person, with the email account by the name of Kirsten Han, if she was involved, was helping in the abuse of process. Based on what the Court said, you can see what the persons who were assisting in the applications were trying to do. As a result of many such applications today, we have PACPs whose sentences have not been carried out, despite their cases being decided more than a decade ago. One such PACP is Iskandar bin Rahmat. He is not a drug trafficker, but his applications are somewhat illustrative of the point I am making.”
“Drug abuse is not victimless and all of these are caused by the drug traffickers, whom people glorify. The next slide shows a heartbreaking case where a life was taken even before the victim had any voice of her own. The remains of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl. She was assaulted to death by her own father, who was a meth abuser. The man burnt the body and hid it in a pot to conceal his crime. Several studies have shown that the harms of drugs are far-reaching into the next generation. A recent literature review by the KK Women's and Children's Hospital, found that drug abuse by pregnant women can cause serious harms to the foetus. Their babies could be born with congenital defects, such as respiratory distress syndrome or smaller brain matter. The newborns may also suffer from drug withdrawal, increased risk of disease and even infant death. A 2020 study by the Ministry of Social and Family Development found that children whose parents had committed drug offences, were five times more likely than other children to unfortunately come into contact with the criminal justice system in the future. But these facts and images are usually missing from the speeches, posts of those who campaign against the death penalty. Instead, there are baseless allegations, one-sided claims and half-truths. These baseless allegations are also made in relation to prisoners awaiting capital punishment – I will call them PACPs. They cast doubt on the process, the legal process. They cast doubt on the convictions and the sentences. For instance, in May 2023 last year, Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, or POFMA, directions were issued against 10 social media posts and two online articles for containing false statements about a capital sentence meted out by the Courts.”
“They seek to evoke sympathy by presenting an image of an unfair criminal justice system stacked against drug traffickers. They publish videos, pictures, stories from the traffickers' childhood, sharing interviews with family members. He has got a brother; he has got a sister; he has a child; he had a childhood. Poor guy. And portraying the trafficker as a victim of unfortunate circumstances. He did not have money and therefore, he trafficked in drugs. But they leave out the facts of the cases. They leave out the accounting of the harms caused to the victims of the traffickers. They glorify the trafficker. They do not give any voice to the victims, the number of lives lost or wrecked by drugs; and the reason the traffickers were trafficking the drugs in the first place, which is to make money. The victims also have wives, sisters, children, parents. All of these people will also suffer. If you face financial difficulties, if you need money, get a job. You do not have to traffic in drugs to make money. Earlier, I recounted some stories of drug abuse overseas. We have seen shocking stories in Singapore too. Early last year, a man was convicted of committing incest with his 17-year-old daughter after sharing methamphetamine (meth) with her. She became reliant on him for sustaining her addiction and did not come forward with the truth for months. In another case last year, a 31-year-old man: he had consumed various drugs, went on to drive under the influence of drugs, crashed his rental car into a public bus, killed himself; injured seven other passengers in the bus. The next slide shows photos of a crime scene, where a man who was under the influence of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), brutally stabbed his own mother and punched his grandmother to death.”
“In the 1990s, CNB arrested about 6,000 drug abusers per year. That number has now come down by almost half. CNB now arrests about 3,000 drug abusers per year. All things being equal, the number of drug abusers in Singapore should have gone up in the last 30 years. The supply of drugs in the region has exploded. Our purchasing power has increased significantly. That figure of 6,000 should be two, three times more because more people should be consuming drugs. But instead, the number has gone down. By that alone, I say we have saved the lives of thousands of potential abusers and we have saved the lives of their families from the consequences of one person in the family taking drugs. Consequences can be, as we see from other countries: homicide, violence, break-ups, poorer outcomes for children. It is a pretty sad situation in many places. We have avoided it. This is the war that we are fighting in Singapore and if we do not fight it or if we lose it, then thousands in Singapore will suffer. So, everyone who is asking us to go soft on drugs or remove the death penalty, is in fact advocating for a different Singapore – where there will be more people dying; there will be more children affected; there will be more unfavourable outcomes, particularly on people of lower incomes. I will now move on to deal with attempts by some to undermine our approach. The evidence for our approach is compelling. People can see what is happening around the world, which is why I took some time to explain country by country some of the countries – first-world; South America; the US; this region. Despite that, in recent years, there has been a small group of people who attempt to mislead the public with misinformation on drug traffickers and the death penalty.”
“The World Drug Report estimates that in the same year, 31 million years of "healthy" life were lost due to disability and premature deaths as a result of drug use. These are not just statistics. They are lives of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. That is why I use the analogy of war. I am talking about a war against those who profit off the drug trade at the expense of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. To put it in the context of fighting a war, let me refer to a point that Bertrand Russell made referencing the Second World War. He pointed out in his 1943 essay titled, "The Future of Pacifism", that "if war is to be prevented, there must be a clearly expressed willingness to go to war for certain ends". In other words, if you want peace, you have to be prepared to fight for it. I would argue the same applies to the war against drugs. In this war, we will have to decide: do we want to go soft and risk ending up like the countries I have spoken about earlier? Do we want to become a "narco-state", or an "infamous brown town", or a hotbed for drugs and violence? People may say: no one is asking you to go soft. Impose very tough penalties. Just do not impose the death penalty. And I have said, there is a clear difference between the deterrence effects of the death penalty as opposed to other punishments. My view, based on the evidence, you remove the death penalty, drug trafficking will go up significantly. There will be more robberies, house breakings and so on, because drug abusers will need money to buy drugs. Evidence shows there will also be more sexual assaults, more homicides and definitely many more people will die in Singapore. That is why we take a strict approach, and our strict approach has saved thousands of lives.”
“Many would say no and if they do get tempted, they might say, "Well, I will only traffic drugs below a certain threshold amount". So, it makes it much more difficult to traffic substantial amounts into Singapore. Those who suggest that the death penalty can be replaced by life imprisonment should look at these figures. The deterrent effects of the two penalties are very different. It is not easy for us – Members, policy-makers, Ministers – to decide to have capital punishment as part of the penalties in law. But the evidence shows that it is necessary to protect our people, prevent the destruction of thousands of families and prevent the loss of thousands of lives. That is why we maintain the death penalty. Members have to understand – this is nothing short of a war. I say that we are fighting a war and using that analogy, because that is the scale in terms of victims and lost lives. Others in this region have used the analogy of war and that has drawn different sorts of responses. But people know here in Singapore we go on the basis of apprehending the traffickers, dealing with the situations in accordance with laws passed by Parliament and we fight the drug war within that framework. In the US, every 14 months, more Americans die from abusing fentanyl than from all of America's wars combined since the Second World War, from Korea to Afghanistan, every 14 months. In fact, the life expectancy of male Americans has come down for two reasons. One, the number of shootings, homicides. And second, drugs, opioid abuse. In 2021, the World Health Organization reported 600,000 deaths in 2019 which was attributable to drug abuse. That is more than twice the number of deaths caused by firearms in the same year.”
“For example, a person who traffics 15 grammes of pure heroin, which is enough to feed the addiction of about 180 abusers for a week, will face capital punishment. The evidence shows clearly that the death penalty has been an effective deterrent. In 1990, we introduced the death penalty for trafficking more than 1.2 kilogrammes of opium. In the four years that followed, there was a 66% reduction in the average net weight of opium trafficked. A 2021 study was conducted in parts of the region. We are evidence-based so I told my Ministry let us do a survey from the regions where many of our drug traffickers come from, to see what the population in those areas think about our penalties and are our penalties sufficient deterrent. Because you deal with the drug situation by dealing with both supply and demand. Demand in Singapore – through public education, through control measures, through active campaigning, explaining the dangers of drugs; supply – by controlling the amount of drugs that come in and through the use of deterrents. So, we did a statistically, scientifically valid study in the parts from which many of our drug traffickers come from. It showed that 87% of those surveyed, this is nine out of 10, believed that the death penalty deters people from trafficking substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore; 83%, this is eight out of 10, believed that the death penalty is more effective than life imprisonment in deterring drug trafficking; and 86% believed that the death penalty deters serious crimes in Singapore. The implications are when the drug barons go around trying to recruit people to come into Singapore, people will be very careful.”
“Beyond the mandated supervision period, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) continues to work with Yellow Ribbon Singapore (YRSG) and its community partners, to help the drug abusers. For example, YRSG assists ex-inmates with career coaching and job placement. These efforts have produced some results. From 1993 to 2021, our two-year recidivism rate for those released from drug rehabilitation centre (DRC) decreased by more than two and a half times, from 73% to 27.7%. There are many examples of ex-drug abusers who have kicked their habit, leading new lives. For example, Francis How. He dropped out of secondary school, joined a street gang at the age of 12. He was involved in drugs and other crimes, including housebreaking and gambling, to feed his drug addiction. By the age of 32, he had already served close to 11 years behind bars, almost all his adult life. But then, he decided to turn his back on drugs and crime. He is now 50 years old, married with four children. He runs his own shipyard repair business. He has stayed clean for more than 17 years. The journey to recovery is not easy. It is challenging. It requires many helping hands. We should recognise not just the efforts of the ex-abusers to stay drug-free but also pay tribute to their families who support them in their journey. Today, we have invited several ex-abusers and their families to join us in the Public Gallery. All in, about 120 of them. They show that it is possible to quit drugs and to live a fulfilling life. I ask Members to join me in recognising them. [Applause.] While we seek to help abusers, we take a tough approach against drug traffickers. We have zero tolerance for those who destroy the lives of others for money. The death penalty is imposed on persons who traffic specified amounts.”
“We are a big target for drugs that this region is being flooded with. Despite our stiff penalties, some traffickers try their luck because of the profits they can earn. The street price for drugs is much higher in Singapore than many other parts in this region. Our purchasing power is much higher, our gross domestic product (GDP) is much higher, our wealth is much higher, so, it is obvious. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) have found drugs at the borders in fire extinguishers, furniture, even fruits. People find many innovative ways of trying to smuggle in. Last year, CNB seized about $15 million worth of drugs and dismantled 25 drug syndicates. The number of drug abusers arrested increased by 10% from the previous year, while the number of cannabis abusers reached a 10-year high. The Health and Lifestyle survey conducted by the Institute of Mental Health in 2022 showed that the mean onset age of illicit drug consumption in Singapore is 15.9 years old. This is the age of a Secondary 4 student. Members can see that we are not exempt from the problems that other countries face. Let me now turn to our approach to drug control. We take an evidence-based approach towards drug control. In 2019, we changed our policy to focus on helping persons who are pure drug abusers. If they only abuse drugs and have not committed other offences, they are channelled to receive treatment and do not get a criminal record. The interventions are based on the risk profile of the abuser. For example, low-risk, first-time adult drug abusers will generally undergo counselling in the community, together with regular urine or hair testing. This minimises disruption to their daily lives while ensuring that their addiction issues are addressed.”
“Really, one has got to ask: who speaks for the human rights of these millions of children? Closer to home, in Southeast Asia, the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet, is a major drug producing region. The UNODC reported in 2022 that East and Southeast Asia are "literally swimming" in meth. In 2022 alone, 151 tonnes of meth were seized in the region. At the Committee of Supply, I spoke about the situation in Thailand. When cannabis was legalised, it was available immediately almost anywhere you looked – restaurants, convenience stores and even near schools. Within six months of legalisation, the number of addicts went up four times. There were young teens and children who consumed cannabis-infused cookies, candies and sweets – they thought these were ordinary snacks – but ended up having to be hospitalised. The Thai government recently has announced plans to reimpose a ban on recreational cannabis use by the end of this year. One can see why but it is no longer going to be easy to do because if part of it is legal and part of it is not legal, then, enforcement is never going to be easy. In any event, businesses which have invested in the industry will likely push back strongly and those who are now addicted to the drug both will find it very difficult to kick off the habit and will need to be supported by the healthcare system. The consequences, in many cases, can be irreversible. The impact will be very long-lasting. If you look at Malaysia, cannabis seizures jumped from 3,700 kilogrammes in 2021 to 6,200 kilogrammes in 2022, just one worrying statistic – and there are many others. With that, let me now turn to the situation in Singapore and the threat we face here from the drug trade.”
“My view to Members – when they experiment with laws like this, they are actually experimenting with the lives of people, including the lives of innocent young children. The policies and u-turns have a long-term impact on the next generation and the impact cannot be easily reversed. Parents and guardians, if they become drug addicts, homeless and unemployed – it is the children who would suffer this proportionately. Let us look at a sobering personal account of a child who grew up in America with a mother who was a cocaine abuser: "From the ages of seven to 12, we were pretty much on our own. Sometimes, we would be left alone for days at a time. We would not have lights, water or heat. At night, we would huddle around the stove for warmth. It got so bad that we started hiding our mother's keys just to keep her from going to the crack house." In 2021, Gallup reported that about 32% of Americans say that drug use has been a cause of trouble in their family, one-third of all Americans. That is almost double the proportion since 1999, when it was 17%. Children and the next generation are the real victims. A study estimated that in 2017, about 2.2 million children and adolescents in the US had a parent with an opioid use disorder or were affected by opioids themselves. The study projected that by 2030, this number would go up to 4.3 million – nearly double. These children often do not have a proper home to grow up in, no role models to look up to and no stability to anchor their development. Without basic support, they have poorer educational outcomes, increased likelihood of developing substance use disorders and early emergence of chronic diseases. The cycle will keep repeating itself.”
“Fifty-eight percent of voters in Oregon supported it. They thought this was the solution. Police can then focus on other work and abusers would feel less stigmatised and abusers will seek treatment. But people in Oregon soon saw the results of this policy. From 2019 to 2022, the number of drug overdose deaths more than doubled from about 600 to about 1,300. People felt unsafe on the streets, businesses started leaving and the situation got very bad. By August 2023, last year, a majority of people in Oregon wanted to repeal the measure and in 2024 this year, they reversed course. They re-criminalised possession of drugs for even small amounts. Let me give another example. Last year, the Canadian province of British Columbia decriminalised drugs to try and reduce its overdose rates. Instead, the number of drug overdose deaths increased by more than 5% from the year before. There was also public backlash against the open drug use. Earlier this year, the provincial government tried to restrict the public places where people could consume drugs. But the Supreme Court blocked the measure, saying it could, and I quote, "cause irreparable harm" to drug users. The Court said that users were at risk of overdosing alone, since they would have fewer public places to consume drugs and where people would be present. Brad West, a mayor from a British Columbian city, said that the courts were out of touch with the public and blocking the measure, and I quote, "ignored the harm that occurs to others by allowing rampant public use". Last month, the BBC reported that the authorities in British Columbia were working urgently to re-criminalise the use of hard drugs in public places.”
“Gangs are said to have used the toys to attract young children and then recruited them as drug pushers and handed them weapons and forced them into the drug trade. In Mexico, murders, abductions, forced disappearances are almost daily occurrences due to turf wars between drug cartels. Since 2006, nearly 450,000 people have been killed, a significant number of these killings are believed to be linked to drugs and the drug trade. We move to North America. In recent years, some places have chosen to decriminalise drugs. They take the position that drug use is a personal choice and it should be destigmatised and allowed under certain conditions. Others say that the problem has gotten out of control and their solution is to allow drug abuse under so-called "safe" conditions. For example, they have decriminalised personal possession of drugs below certain limits. And what are the results? Consider San Francisco. In 2014, it passed laws to reduce the offence of drug possession from a serious offence to a misdemeanour which is to be dealt with administratively. And you know what police would do then? They de-prioritised, decided that they will not deal strictly with open-drug use and small-scale possession. A decade later, anyone visiting the city now will see people living in slum-like conditions along major streets, looking for their next fix. Last year, San Francisco's death rate from drug overdoses reached a record high. It was more than double the US national average. Some places, which chose to legalise drugs, have realised that the results were not as promised and have reversed their policies. In 2020, the US State of Oregon decriminalised use and possession of small amounts of most drugs, including cocaine, meth and heroin.”
“So, Members can ask themselves why are officials in a first-world country saying this: that they cannot win the fight against the narcotic gangs? In the United Kingdom (UK), the example of Barrow-in-Furness shows how drugs can seriously damage a place. In the last decade, the town has been plagued by drug use and drug-related deaths. In 2018, its opiate-related deaths were double the national average. It became known as the country’s "most infamous brown town". Last year, there was an almost 50% jump in drug offences compared to the previous year. The situation is dismal: town buildings mostly boarded up and vandalised, broken furniture strewn on the streets, windows smashed. Businesses and residents say that they may have no choice but to leave the town if things do not change. From 2011 to 2021, the town population decreased by 2.4% while England's population increased by 6.6% over the same period. I should have added in Belgium, the Justice Minister, my counterpart, has to live out of safe houses because the police cannot guarantee his safety. Let us look at South America, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said that 18 out of 21 countries are now the main sources of transit for cocaine. Ecuador was once seen as a peaceful country. It has become wrecked with drugs and violence. From 2018 to 2022, its homicide rates increased by four times and the homicide rates are now the eighth highest in the world. There are reports of beheadings, car bombings, assassinations of police officers, children being gunned down. In one hideout used by the drug cartels, the police uncovered a collection of stuffed toys.”
“In 2022, there were 391 shootings, 90 explosions, 101 attempted attacks with explosives. These were linked to fights between criminal gangs over drugs and arms. The then-police chief Thornberg said and, I quote, "citizens are afraid, insecurity is increasing". Young lives in Sweden are being destroyed by this senseless violence. In 2022, 30% of suspects for gang-related violence were between 15 and 20 years old. A lawyer who represents teenage shooting victims and suspects told the BBC: children in Sweden are using their, and I quote, "own bags, not to carry books, but they carry the drug markets of Sweden on their shoulders." Turning to Belgium, last year, in Antwerp, an 11-year-old girl was killed in a shooting in her own home. It was linked to a drug-related gang dispute. In the last decade, there have been hundreds of such incidents in Antwerp: shootings, grenade attacks, fires and bombings. Many were linked to gang-related violence trying for a piece of the cocaine trade. The mayor of Antwerp Bart De Wever has described the situation as being a "much bigger" threat than the 2016 Brussels bombings. The Brussels bombings made headlines around the world. When terrorists attack, it becomes big news. But with drug violence, it gets ignored even though it is much bigger and a more continuous threat which affects many more people and, really, this should be taken more seriously. Last year, the Belgian customs seized a record amount of cocaine more than the customs and border officials in all of the United States (US). Their incinerators in Belgium were not able to burn the seized drugs quickly enough and the confiscated stash has earned the nickname "cocaine-berg". Customs officials now tell the media that they will never win the war against the cartels.”
“Let me begin by speaking about the global drug situation. Every region, every region in the world is being affected by drugs. I start with Europe. European countries, first world countries, have been very hard hit. Europe's ports have been described by a major weekly as "drug hubs" and "safe terrain for narcotics". It also said that in the European Union (EU), half of all homicides and more than a quarter of illegal firearms seizures were linked to drug trafficking. So, Members can consider just how many lives have been lost. So, let us look at some specific countries. In the Netherlands, a record of over 60,000 kilogrammes of cocaine was seized by Dutch Customs in 2023 alone. I have set out on the slides, some of the quotes from senior people in the Netherlands. In the port city of Rotterdam, children, some as young as 14 years old, are being recruited as "cocaine collectors" to get the drugs from shipping containers. In January this year, the Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema said the Netherlands risks becoming a "narco-state". The illegal drugs trade has grown "more lucrative, professional and ruthlessly violent". Think of a Mayor of a major European city saying that and what the implications are. The chief of the largest police union in the Netherlands Jan Strujis has said the country had a parallel economy controlled by crime groups, shootings and killings. A former Justice and Security Minister Grapperhaus has said that "excessive violence" against politicians, lawyers and journalists was "no longer taboo". Sweden, considered one of the safest places in the world, has also been seriously affected by drug- and gang-related violence. Since 2013, the number of fatal shootings has more than doubled.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir. Sir, our drug control policies have evolved over the years, to meet the changing nature of the threats from drugs. I make this Ministerial Statement to set out the framework of our policies; the reasons for our policies; and what more we intend to do. The reason for making this Statement now is this: we have a strict national drug control policy; it is necessary, it is effective and it is well-supported by Singaporeans. I will show that later. But our approach has been criticised by some who are helping inmates to abuse the legal process. The Courts have said that they try and frustrate the legal process and prevent the penalties from being carried out. I will set out the broader context for the situation – show how these criticisms are without merit. I will also set out what we intend to do about those attempts to abuse our legal process. I will cover four areas in this Statement. First, I will discuss the global and regional drug situation. Second, I will speak about the threat from the drug trade and our approach to that threat. Third, I will speak about some attempts to spread misinformation and try and undermine aspects of our drug policies. I will also show that, despite these attempts, there is strong public support for our approach and policies, including the death penalty. And fourth, I will set out our plans to further strengthen our drug control policies. With your permission, Mr Speaker, Sir, I ask to display some slides and photos on the LED screens as I speak.”
“Sir, on the first part, if the Member was paying attention, he would have realised I did not say the staff has been sent back. On the second question, as far as I know, the embassy has not said anything to me, neither has the ambassador said anything to me, beyond what I have said to Members. The Member may wish to ask the MFA for any other clarifications.”
“Sir, as Members will know, we made very clear what our views were and the embassy immediately took down the post and, as I made clear to Members just now, the Ambassador met me and he apologised for the post and said that it should never have been put up and that it will not be repeated and the officer involved would be dealt with by being sent home. I think those are pretty serious steps.”
“Even when they are spying you cannot charge them, let alone when they put up a post. So, that is part of international law. We will have to act in accordance with international law but within that framework, we will have to see what is possible to do. On the Member's second question, Sir, it is, I think, very hypothetical that any embassy would waive diplomatic immunity and allow another country to charge them. It has happened infrequently, but it is extremely hypothetical. What countries will normally say is, "Look, we will deal with the person by sending him back and then deal with him in our own way". Members may recall the case of Mr Ionescu from Romania. The Romanians charged him after he went back to Romania. So, if there is a case where immunity is waived, then the short answer to the question, Sir, is that the prosecution can make an assessment as to the nature of the case if it feels that this may stir up anger and create a spectacle with potentially violent consequences. They can always apply for it to be heard in camera, but they have got to show public interest, I think. Short of taking action if the embassy waives immunity, there are other steps that can be taken under various pieces of legislation as well.”
“I will provide an answer with context. If it is by members of the public, of course, we have a variety of powers, under different pieces of legislation. There is the Online Criminal Harms Act, the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, the Broadcasting Act. If you look at the different pieces of legislation, depending on what infringements there are, there are powers to block access. There are powers under the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act to even issue a restraining order. Though the very fact that we have never issued a restraining order since the legislation came into force – I think it is nearly 30 years – shows how useful the legislation has been and also shows the nature of the community we have in Singapore. But if it is specifically an embassy, the starting point is there would be sovereign immunity. So, you would not be able to, for example, issue directly an order to the embassy to remove a posting on its website. You could look at more general steps, like blocking entire access to the platform, but that would be a very high signature step and I think we need to be careful. In these cases, when an embassy puts up a post, I think the way to handle it is the way we handled it – talk to the embassy. If they refuse, and I do not want to be going too much into hypotheticals, but for example, if they refuse to take it down, then there are the usual diplomatic steps that one country can take vis-à-vis another country. But you got to assess the nature of the infringement, as it were, and how you calibrate it. It can be calibrated to how you give access or how many people you allow in the embassy to be in Singapore or you ask some to leave, in an extreme case; you have seen those sorts of things happen.”
“Sir, can I just clarify with the Member, maybe I did not hear fully. On the first question, is he referring to posts by any member of public or is he referring to posts by embassies?”
“But where what has been said affects Singapore, in this case the harmony and safety within Singapore, especially the security as well of our minority communities, we have to step in. Posts like what the Embassy put up have the potential to create tension between our Jewish and Muslim communities, and may also put our Jewish community, in particular, at risk. The Police received a report on the post. The Police, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, have assessed that no further action was to be taken. Members would understand the Israeli Embassy’s actions are covered by the principle of sovereign immunity.”
“At the leadership level, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) facilitate platforms where senior religious and community leaders engage with one another frequently. The platforms include the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony, as well as the Racial and Religious Harmony Circles in every constituency. At the people-to-people level, MCCY provides support for inter-faith and inter-ethnic initiatives that bring different communities together, including dialogues which encourage mutual understanding and respectful interactions across different communities. Let me now turn to the social media post by the Israeli Embassy that was raised by Mr Zhulkarnain. Foreign embassies and diplomatic staff in Singapore enjoy diplomatic immunity under the law, unless they waive it. Amongst other things, this means that they enjoy immunity from our criminal jurisdiction. Nevertheless, MHA shared our concerns with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) when the post was put up. We shared our concerns immediately. MFA agreed that the post was offside and should be taken down. MFA then engaged the Israeli Embassy on the post and asked that it be taken down. As Members would know, the Embassy took down the post immediately. Members will remember what I said in public – that the post was completely unacceptable. The Israeli Ambassador asked to see me. I met him last week. He apologised for the post having been put up. He said it was wrong for the post to have been put up. The post was not authorised by him and the officer responsible for the post will be sent back, away from Singapore. And he said that this would never happen again. I pointed out to him that embassies are entitled to have their point of view.”
“There are also reports which, on the other hand, deny that outsiders have been significantly involved. I think it is difficult to know the true facts, but looking at protests – and we have been studying them, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, other places – I think it is fair to say, often, there is a group which has legitimate aims, wants to be peaceful, but there are often others who use these events where people gather, to then engineer violence and put the police on the defensive, and try and egg the police on, to try and engage in forcibly preventing acts of violence, and then, it escalates. Likewise, our own view is that: if we allow protests on this issue, initially, it may be peaceful, but over time, as the protests take a life of their own, there could be some violence, breach of the peace and law, occupying of buildings in Singapore; we are no different from other places. We should accept that individuals who engage in offensive or violent conduct, however, are a very small minority in our society and I suspect in many other places too. We in Singapore have not had many serious incidents pitting one racial or religious group against another. Most Singaporeans understand the importance of safeguarding our social cohesion, and the value of mutual respect and tolerance. Even where views on the conflict have differed, people in Singapore have been relatively measured and rational in the way we have approached the issues. Beyond the law, we have to work actively, and we do work actively, on strengthening our social compact by building mutual trust and understanding across our ethnic and religious communities.”
“At United States (US) universities, exchanges between different groups of pro-Israel and pro-Palestine student protestors have become increasingly acrimonious. Students on both sides have faced harassment and assault. Ironically, some of the leading US universities are beginning to say that freedom of expression does not mean that one can say or do anything one wants. What we see happening in many places overseas is that the protests have often become violent. People occupy buildings, prevent others from going about their daily businesses, cause significant disamenities and disruption to the public. And often, that leads to damage and harm. They may start off well-intentioned, led by honest, idealistic people. I mean, people often say, "What's wrong with protests, expression of views?" And I can understand that. Often, people genuinely feel the need and they are not violent people. They do not want to create trouble. But what happens is that when there are these protests, they often get infiltrated, as we can see from elsewhere, by others with their own agendas. These others who infiltrate these protests often try and engineer violence. The New York Times and other media outlets have run stories on what is happening in the US right now. The Mayor of New York has reportedly criticised outside agitators for being on campus grounds training and co-opting the protests. He was concerned with, and I quote, “young people…being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalising children”. The New York Times ran an article, quoting a student saying that a big part of the protests was people coming in from the general Los Angeles area and putting on a demonstration that caused widespread disruption. These are on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campuses.”
“Sir, external developments, especially those as emotionally charged as the conflict in the Middle East, often spill across borders. They can cause tensions between people who feel differently about and who identify with different sides of the issue. And we in Singapore have been affected by these forces as well. We see in particular a divide in the reactions between the Malay/Muslim community on the one side and the Jewish and Christian communities on the other side. Many in the Malay/Muslim community see the injustice in what is happening in Gaza. The Jewish community meanwhile feels deeply the pain inflicted by Hamas’ act of terror on 7 October 2023. There are sections of the Christian community who feel that any attack on Israel is an attack on Christianity – while not all Christians feel that way, there are some who feel that way and have expressed those views. Other communities may also empathise with one side of the conflict more than the other. Deeply held feelings can also result in words or actions that offend other communities. Between 7 October 2023 and 31 March 2024, the Police received 43 reports regarding alleged offensive remarks or actions targeted at members of the Jewish or Muslim communities in Singapore. The Government will intervene against acts which can affect our social harmony. Members know we have laws such as the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, the Penal Code has provisions, the Protection from Harassment Act – they all set out the boundaries on what is acceptable conduct. In this context, let me also say something about protests. We have seen how tensions have boiled over in many countries. In Berlin, pro-Palestinian protestors have clashed with the police, with hundreds of people arrested.”
“The data requested by the Member is in Table 1 below. The Traffic Police works closely with the Land Transport Authority to review and implement measures to improve road safety. These include improvements to infrastructure and public engagement and education initiatives, as well as enforcement against offending motorists. These efforts have been covered in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Transport's replies to other Parliamentary Questions on 7 May 2024. [Please refer to "Measures to Improve Safety on the Roads and Increase Penalties following Recent Spate of Fatal Accidents", Official Report, 7 May 2024, Vol 95, Issue 135, Oral Answers to Questions section.]”
“The data requested by the Member is in Table 1 below. The Member may refer to the Ministry of Transport's reply to a Parliamentary Question in November 2022, regarding how local motorists can make insurance claims when involved in accidents involving foreign motorists. [Please refer to "Reports of Traffic Accidents Involving Foreign-registered Vehicles and Assistance Rendered to Drivers Who Lodged Claims against Foreign Motorists", Official Report, 29 November 2022, Vol 95, Issue 77, Written Answers to Questions section.]”
“Expenses are incurred for the storage, maintenance and safeguarding of the seized assets, comprising properties, vehicles and luxury goods such as branded bags, watches and alcohol. This includes expenses for engaging specialised services from industry partners or service providers to oversee the handling, upkeep and value preservation of the assets. As of March 2024, Police has incurred about $646,282 in such expenses. These expenses are borne by the state. They are covered by the forfeited cash and the proceeds of sale of the forfeited non-cash assets, which are channelled to the state.”
“The Member's question has been addressed in the reply to Parliamentary Questions Nos 2 to 10 for Oral Answers to Questions on the Order Paper for 7 May 2024. [Please refer to "Measures to Improve Safety on the Roads and Increase Penalties following Recent Spate of Fatal Accidents", Official Report, 7 May 2024, Vol 95, Issue 135, Oral Answers to Questions section.]”
“Our policy is to generally allow divorced or widowed foreign spouses with custody of Singaporean children to remain in Singapore to care for and raise their children here. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority generally renews their Long-Term Visit Pass and they are generally considered more favourably for Permanent Residency, compared to those without family ties to Singaporeans.”
“In May 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) launched the E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR), which assigns ratings to e-commerce platforms based on the extent to which they have implemented critical anti-scam features. The TSR strengthens the accountability of the platforms to the public and nudges them to do more to tackle e-commerce scams. MHA has also worked with industry stakeholders, including e-commerce platforms, to revise the national standards for e-commerce transactions. These standards, known as Technical Reference 76, now include additional guidelines to ensure merchant authenticity and improve transaction security. MHA has regularly engaged Meta on the requirements of the Online Criminal Harms Act, in particular, with regard to the upcoming Codes of Practice for designated online service providers to do more to protect their users against scams. Meta is aware of the timeline for the Codes to be introduced and the Government's expectations. We will not hesitate to take designated online service providers to task if they do not comply with the Codes' requirements. Since the first quarter of this year, Carousell and Shopee have co-located their staff with the Police at the Anti-Scam Command (ASC). This has allowed the Police to screen and perform sense-making on scam accounts in real-time, improved the turnaround time by platforms to take down these scam accounts or listings and strengthened the working relationship between the Police and the platforms. We have been engaging the other online platforms, including Meta, to also co-locate their staff at the ASC and will consider mandating this, if necessary.”
“Between April 2023 and March 2024, there were 18 fires that involved personal mobility devices (PMDs). The Singapore Civil Defence Force does not track, however, how many of such fires involve over-charging of PMD batteries.”
“When a scam is reported to the Police Anti-Scam Centre (ASC), the focus of the ASC is to quickly trace where the monies have been transferred to – usually the bank accounts of money mules and scammers – and quickly freeze those accounts to prevent the monies from being siphoned out of Singapore. At the same time, it will check if there are other victims and contact those victims, who might not yet be in the know. ASC will also work with telecommunications companies to terminate the scam-tainted phone lines; and social media platforms to take down the scam-related online accounts and advertisements. ASC will also flag the victims' affected bank accounts to the banks for their follow-up, which may entail freezing of the accounts. However, the scam victim should not just rely on the Police to freeze his bank accounts. There are many actions which the Police have to undertake as soon as a scam is reported. The victim should also immediately contact his banks directly to freeze his accounts, or better still, activate the emergency self-service "kill switch" provided by the banks.”
“The Ministry of Home Affairs will be introducing the Codes of Practice under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) this year. The Codes of Practice will impose binding obligations on designated online services. One such requirement will be to verify the identities of their users, including individuals and businesses that publish advertisements on their platforms. This will help to deter scammers from exploiting social media platforms for scams and facilitate Police's investigations into scam cases.”
“The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) hosts many initiatives that educate the public on emergency preparedness. One such initiative is the Emergency Preparedness Centre (EPC) at the Civil Defence Heritage Gallery. It uses interactive exhibits to impart emergency preparedness skills to members of public. For example, the Natural Disasters Gallery in the EPC features interactive games to educate the public on the dos and do nots during natural disasters, such as tsunamis and earthquakes. In addition, the War and Terrorism Gallery features essential knowledge on self-protection should they be caught in situations of war or terror attacks. The SCDF also conducts the Responders Plus Programme (RPP), which equips participants with core life-saving skills, namely basic First Aid, CPR-AED and basic firefighting. The RPP comprises an online and in-person component. The online segment, accessible from the SCDF website, provides self-directed e-learning modules. The in-person session, held at the four SCDF division headquarters, imparts lifesaving skills through hands-on lessons. The Civil Defence Emergency Handbook, available on SCDF's website, is a handy reference on essential lifesaving skills, encompassing comprehensive instructions on handling various emergencies – from natural disasters to terrorist attacks. The SGSecure website also provides information and resources on how to respond to terror threats, including the "Run, Hide, Tell" and "Press, Tie, Tell" protocols. In short, Singaporeans who pick up emergency preparedness skills are more prepared for emergencies whether in Singapore or overseas.”
“We had announced in 2014 that the lease for the Marina Bay Golf Course will not be renewed after its expiry in July this year, as the site will be redeveloped. The land at the Marina Bay Golf Course site is required for various uses, including the development of the expanded Bay East Garden and Founders' Memorial. Construction at the site is expected to commence shortly after the site is returned to the state. The Singapore Land Authority is, therefore, unable to grant any extension to the lease of the Marina Bay Golf Course.”
“There has been an increase in the number of reports of harassment by unlicensed moneylenders, which involved migrant domestic workers as borrowers. However, the Police do not track such reports by whether the employer is a party who faced harassment. The Ministry of Home Affairs takes a firm stance against unlicensed moneylending activities. Under the Moneylenders Act, unlicensed moneylenders who harass their borrowers or any other person in connection with a loan to the borrower could face a fine of at least $5,000 and up to $50,000, or imprisonment of up to five years, or both. The penalties are higher for repeat offenders. In 2023, the Police conducted 12 major enforcement operations against unlicensed moneylenders and arrested more than 850 subjects who were believed to be involved in loan-sharking activities. Aside from enforcement efforts, the Ministry of Manpower works with the Police to educate migrant domestic workers about the potential consequences of borrowing from unlicensed moneylenders, which could include revocation of their work pass and being barred from future employment. They are also educated on financial management practices they can adopt, such as consulting their employers, employment agencies or non-governmental organisations on any financial difficulties they are facing. These education efforts are conducted through various channels, such as the Settling-in Programme, which all first-time migrant domestic workers must attend when they arrive in Singapore.”
“If there is information on specific threats or elevated security concerns linked to places of worship, the Police will step up security measures, such as increasing the frequency of patrols in the vicinity.”
“The Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) work with the Safety and Security Watch Group (SSWG), which includes religious organisations, to conduct security surveys, share best practices and deliver training on building safety and security awareness. Exercises are also regularly conducted with the SSWG members to validate their contingency response plans and ensure their readiness in the event of emergencies. For example, in 2019, the Police, SCDF and the Sultan Mosque jointly organised a counter-terrorism exercise codenamed "Exercise Heartbeat", which involved a simulated terror attack at the mosque. As part of the SGSecure movement, the Police also work with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), to organise counter-terrorism seminars for religious organisations. These seminars share best practices on relevant topics, such as building safety and security, psychological resilience, emergency preparedness and business continuity planning. The counter-terrorism seminar held in October 2023 involved more than 120 participants from various religious and community organisations. In addition, MCCY helps religious organisations build their crisis response capacity through the Crisis Preparedness for Religious Organisations programme. Under this programme, MCCY provides religious organisations with a security advisory booklet that helps them to identify security threats and plan crisis management responses to various security scenarios. MCCY also encourages religious organisations to assess their crisis readiness and identify operational gaps by completing a self-assessment checklist. MCCY works with the Police and other partners to regularly conduct crisis preparedness training for religious organisations.”
“The E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR), informs users on the anti-scam measures which e-commerce platforms have in place. The TSR features platforms which have a large local outreach or a significant risk of e-commerce scams. TikTok Shop is currently not listed in the TSR, because it has accounted for very few of the e-commerce scams in Singapore so far – less than 1% of all e-commerce scams in 2023. We will continue to monitor the reach and scams situation on TikTok Shop and will include it in the TSR if we find that it is warranted. The Online Criminal Harms Act, which was passed in Parliament last year, will allow the Government to introduce Codes of Practice to require designated online service providers to implement measures to prevent and disrupt scams. The Ministry of Home Affairs will publish the Codes of Practice later this year.”
“Generally, the Police will only investigate into reports lodged against hairdressing salons when a criminal offence, such as cheating, is disclosed. If there is no criminal offence and it is a case of unfair or improper sales practices, the Police will advise the complainant to seek assistance from the Consumers Association of Singapore.”
“The aim of our regulatory regime for licensed moneylenders is to maintain a balance between allowing individual borrowers reasonable access to credit while ensuring that borrowers, particularly lower-income borrowers, are adequately protected. Licensed moneylenders bear the risks of lending and are incentivised in a competitive market to negotiate restructuring of repayments, taking into account the borrower's risk profile. Borrowers and licensed moneylenders are able to restructure loan repayments, subject to mutual agreement. This can include earlier repayment of loan instalments to reduce the interest incurred, or extension of the loan tenure to reduce each remaining loan instalment and avoid late payment fees. Legislating to mandate specific arrangements is generally inadvisable. For example, mandating to allow early repayment of loans may benefit some borrowers, but may also result in moneylenders pricing in the early repayment risk. Mandating extension of the loan tenure may also result in moneylenders pricing in this risk and potentially constrict access to credit to borrowers with higher-risk profiles. The Ministry has instead encouraged licensed moneylenders to, as set out in the Professional Service Handbook for Licensed Moneylenders, assist borrowers with financial difficulties by: (a) restructuring the loan repayment to suit the borrower's financial situation; or (b) referring the borrower to a Social Service Agency for assistance in restructuring the loan repayment or for consideration to be placed on a debt consolidation scheme. Borrowers who have queries on options available to them may also approach the Registry of Moneylenders.”
“And we must also cater for additional buffers on top of our projections, to future-proof WCP even beyond 2050. This is to avoid frequent and reactive infrastructural adjustments which are costly and disruptive to checkpoint operations and, ultimately, travellers. ICA has conducted extensive feasibility and technical studies to determine the optimal amount of land needed for the expanded WCP to improve the current situation and meet projected future traffic demands and evolving security needs. For example, we need more land and space to be able to move security checks of arriving vehicles further away from the town areas, so that if something untoward unhappens, there is less impact on Singaporeans and the rest of the checkpoint. The additional space we will get through the expansion of WCP will also provide more holding areas to better contain traffic queues within the checkpoint, to reduce congestion spillover onto the surrounding local roads and inconveniencing Singaporeans who live and work in the vicinity. In addition, the redeveloped WCP will have more automated lanes, including for cars, to reduce ICA's manpower needs, which is a very serious constraint. ICA's studies and redevelopment plans have been informed by projections derived from overall travel demand data and not on the basis of specific traveller groups.”
“The current Woodlands Checkpoint (WCP) has been in operation since 1999. Over the years, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has implemented various measures to increase clearance efficiency, from automated lanes to dynamic conversion of clearance lanes from one mode of conveyance to another. However, the extent to which ICA has been able to implement these measures and the ability to implement more measures to enhance clearance efficiency, are limited by existing land and infrastructure constraints. Compounding this situation is that the traveller and conveyance volume at WCP has grown sharply, beyond original projections. Today, WCP clears 300,000 travellers per day and as many as 340,000 on long weekends and public holidays. This is a huge increase from 230,000 daily travellers in 2000. Pre-COVID-19, the annual conveyance volume passing through WCP was already about 43 million in 2019, far surpassing the design capacity of 35 million. The frequent congestion within WCP and spillover onto the surrounding local roads are evident of the severe strains on the checkpoint and that the current infrastructure is not capable of handling even the current volumes. ICA's projected 400,000 travellers per day by 2050, a 74% increase from 2000 and 33% from today, will apply even greater pressure on WCP. The actual increases have outstripped ICA's projections. If nothing is done, the travel time for vehicular traffic could increase by more than 60% to 70% during peak periods by 2050, from today. A major redevelopment and expansion of WCP is, therefore, needed to solve the chronic congestion. The objective is to improve, and not simply maintain, traveller experience. Singaporeans deserve that.”
“The Ministry has studied the question of the legal position on establishing fraud in renovation disputes and whether any amendments are needed. Today, renovation fraud can be prosecuted as cheating offences under section 420 of the Penal Code. The Attorney-General Chambers' (AGC's) assessment is that there is no need to amend the law further. The Prosecution is able to secure convictions against fraudulent renovation contractors using evidence, such as financial records and digital evidence, uncovered during investigations. AGC's and the Police's observation is that many cases of non-fulfilment of contracts are not the result of fraud, but rather, business distress. The right course is in civil remedies, which have been made easier to access over the years. For example, in 2019, the Government raised the ceiling for claims that can be brought in the Small Claims Tribunal to $20,000 (or $30,000, if all parties consent). Home owners intending to carry out renovation works should also consider engaging contractors accredited by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), which have consumer-friendly policies including dispute resolution facilitated by CASE.”
“The Guidelines on Reduction in Sentences for Guilty Pleas (PG Guidelines) issued by the Sentencing Advisory Panel are intended to encourage accused persons, who wish to plead guilty, to do so early. The PG Guidelines set out the ranges of reduction in sentence that a Court may consider granting, based on the stage of proceedings at which an accused person pleads guilty. The recommended ranges of reduction set out in the PG Guidelines are set out in broad terms to provide the Court with flexibility and discretion, to calibrate the sentence according to the facts of the case. The Court also retains the discretion to not apply the PG Guidelines in specific cases, if there are good reasons not to do so. The PG Guidelines are distinct from, and do not affect, the plea bargaining process, which is the process of negotiation that may take place between the Prosecution and the Defence before the accused decides whether to plead guilty. The Prosecution may extend a plea offer to the Defence as a matter of prosecutorial discretion based on various factors, including the resources which would be saved through a guilty plea, the accused person's co-operation with the investigation and other personal mitigating circumstances. If the accused person accepts the plea offer and elects to plead guilty, then the Court, in the exercise of its judicial discretion, may apply the PG Guidelines and grant an appropriate reduction in sentence.”
“In the public sector, staff are paid a full month's salary and allowances in advance (pay day is 12th of every month). Overpayment occurs when the staff did not work for the full month. Overpayment can also happen when exited staff have not repaid liquidated damages due to not fulfilling their training or scholarship bonds, or if they have incurred medical expenses at public hospitals or polyclinics that are billed to the Government first and to be offset from the staff's salary later. Any overpayment to staff is recovered from their next or subsequent payroll via the HR & Payroll System (HRPS). For staff who have left us or are on no-pay leave, the Ministry of Home Affairs engages VITAL to recover the overpayments. The number of overpayment cases for which VITAL was engaged in the last three years is in Table 1 below. The total number of staff affected is 1,985 and some staff have more than one case of overpayment. The total amount of overpayment is $3,466,544.43, ranging from $0.01 (lowest) to $238,522.41 (highest) for each case. The highest overpayment amount is due to liquidated damages for not fulfilling the overseas scholarship bond. About 70% of the cases were overpayment involving less than $500. As of 25 March 2024, $1,120,907.48 have been recovered.”