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.”
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“The Traffic Police are only able to provide data on accidents involving passengers of lorries which resulted in casualties or deaths in a relevant accident. It does not track the occupation of the passengers, if they are workers or otherwise, or if they are specifically seated in the front or the rear of the lorry. Please see Table 1 below.”
“While the Prevention of Corruption Act 1960 (PCA) is the primary anti-corruption legislation in Singapore, it is complemented by other laws that deal with related forms of misconduct, such as the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992, the Penal Code 1871 and the Customs Act 1960. The offences under sections 161 to 165 of the Penal Code deal specifically with bribery and other forms of corrupt practices involving public servants. Compared to the offences in PCA, they are more targeted in scope towards tackling the various forms of bribery of, and the taking of bribes by, public servants. For example, section 165 makes it an offence for a public servant to accept anything of value, without payment or with inadequate payment, from any person with whom he is involved in an official capacity. Unlike in PCA, there is no need to further establish that this was an inducement or reward for the public servant to act in such a manner. Therefore, there is utility in retaining these Penal Code offences, which, together with the PCA and other related laws, provide a comprehensive set of legislative levers for corruption control. That said, there may be utility in siting these Penal Code offences in PCA. The Government will review this.”
“The replacement of the car's charge pipes from those originally installed by the manufacturer, to aftermarket charge pipes, was not considered an illegal modification under the Land Transport Authority (LTA)'s regulations. This is because aftermarket charge pipes do not affect a vehicle's safety. As part of the investigation for that fatal accident, the Traffic Police had sent the car for mechanical inspection. The inspection did not detect any illegal modifications done to the car. Agencies, therefore, did not take further action in this regard.”
“The best defence against all scam types, including overseas jobs scams, is a discerning public. Our annual anti-scam public education campaign, called "Spot the Signs. Stop the Crimes.", seeks to build awareness amongst the public on the tell-tale signs of scams and increase their vigilance. For job scams, these include online advertisements or unsolicited messages from unknown numbers which promise attractive salaries for seemingly easy work. The Police also work with schools and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to raise awareness amongst young people on scams. Singapore participates in various regional efforts to discuss cooperation on combating transnational crime, including scams and trafficking in persons. These include the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime and its Working Group on trafficking in persons, as well as the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime. We will continue to work closely with other countries to address the threat of scams and trafficking in persons.”
“When investigating into reports on scams, Police will trace the flow of the funds and swiftly freeze bank accounts suspected to be involved in the scammers' operations. Frozen bank accounts will not be able to accept further transfers of money, including through PayNow. The swift freezing of bank accounts is done at the Anti-Scam Centre, where bank staff are co-located with Police. Since July 2022, six of the major banks in Singapore, namely, DBS, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and CIMB have co-located their staff at the Centre.”
“The Organised Crime Act (OCA) was enacted in 2015 to strengthen the ability of our law enforcement agencies to deal with criminal syndicates. To date, the authorities have investigated 10 organised crime groups for offences involving remote gambling and public gaming, and those under the Computer Misuse Act (CMA), the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) and the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes Act (CDSA). Forty persons have been convicted for offences under OCA so far. For the organised crime groups which we have investigated, we have seized or confiscated cash and crime proceeds related to the crimes, as well as other items related to unlawful gambling and drug offences. We do not track the total dollar value of the items seized. Under OCA, an Organised Crime Prevention Order (OCPO) may be granted by the Court to prevent, restrict or disrupt the activities of persons involved in organised crime groups. This imposes restrictions on a person's activities, such as the premises to which he may have access and how he may associate with others. OCA also empowers the Court to grant a Financial Reporting Order, which requires a person to furnish financial reports. To date, no OCPO or Financial Reporting Orders have been issued. OCA also provides for a Civil Confiscation Regime, which enables the civil confiscation of benefits from organised crime activities. To date, we have not used the levers under the Civil Confiscation Regime.”
“Statistics on the number of claims filed with the Small Claims Tribunals since 2019, are as follows:”
“We do not track the number of crimes which are committed via the dark web. The number of crimes that involved the transfer of cryptocurrency has increased over the last three years: from 94 cases in 2019 and 122 in 2020, to 498 in 2021. This is in line with the increasing usage of cryptocurrencies, but remains a small proportion of the total number of crimes. The majority of these crimes were cheating offences.”
“It will be difficult to define a clear list of luxury items. The Police do not specifically track the number of cases involving resellers of luxury items defrauding buyers. The Government's public education efforts on scams prevention is led by the Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams (IMCS). The IMCS works with the private sector to educate the public on scams and the measures that they can take to protect themselves. For example, in view that e-commerce scams have been consistently among the top scam types, IMCS worked with e-commerce platforms to introduce the E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR), which educates consumers on what safety measures to look out for. These include measures to verify user authenticity and secured payment options. The TSR also assigns an overall safety rating to major e-commerce marketplaces in Singapore – namely, Amazon, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee, Carousell and Facebook Marketplace – based on the anti-scam measures they have in place. Buyers need to verify the legitimacy of sellers, such as by checking the seller's track record and reviews, before making payment. If a deal appears too good to be true, it could possibly be a scam or a fraud.”
“Many activities and transactions that take place in the metaverse would be covered by existing laws. For example, the Penal Code criminalises various forms of cheating and theft of digital assets; and the Computer Misuse Act criminalises unauthorised access or modification of computer material. These laws apply to activities conducted online, and certain offences will continue to apply even if the perpetrators are based overseas. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) monitors developments in the online space closely and have updated our laws where necessary. For instance, the Protection from Harassment Act was amended in 2019 to enhance protection for victims of online harassment, such as through the criminalisation of doxxing. MHA is currently studying the developments in the metaverse and will take further steps as necessary to address novel harms. Despite our best efforts to enhance our laws and enforcement capabilities, crimes in the online space will continue to be challenging to investigate and prosecute. Perpetrators may be situated overseas and our efforts to solve these cases will depend on the cooperation of overseas law enforcement agencies. Perpetrators may also adopt anonymous personas, making it difficult to identify them. Given these challenges, we cannot rely on enforcement alone. MHA and the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) will continue to work closely with industry stakeholders and online service providers to enhance the safety of online spaces. This will be complemented by public education efforts to inform users how they can participate in online activities safely and what they can do to protect themselves.”
“There are existing mechanisms for non-conviction-based confiscation of benefits from criminal conduct in Singapore. The Organised Crime Act provides for the civil confiscation of benefits derived from organised crime activities without a need for a conviction. The Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 (CDSA) also allows for such confiscation, albeit only in exceptional circumstances where the defendant is deceased or has absconded. Non-conviction-based confiscation mechanisms can complement conviction-based confiscation mechanisms, to deprive criminals of financial gain. This is increasingly important as the operating environment for profit-generating crime becomes more complex. In fact, strengthening asset recovery and enhancing law enforcement’s ability to target criminal assets are priorities of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – an inter-governmental body that sets international standards to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, of which Singapore is a member. We will review our non-conviction-based confiscation mechanisms.”
“The amendments to the Road Traffic Act came into force on 1 November 2019. As at August 2022, 470 motorists have received a jail sentence for committing the offence of careless driving.”
“For example, the Police implemented the Digital Forensic Kiosk in 2020, which enables all investigation officers, whether in the Land Divisions or the specialised units, to more easily retrieve and analyse information from digital devices such as mobile phones and portable storage media. Third, they have built strong partnerships with other Government agencies as well as private sector stakeholders such as banks, digital platforms and telecommunications companies. For example, the Police work with financial institutions to swiftly freeze bank accounts suspected to be involved in crime and to identify money mule accounts. The Police also work closely with foreign counterparts and INTERPOL to investigate cases with a foreign nexus. Fourth, investigation officers performing white-collar crime investigations are sent for specialised training to improve capabilities to address increasingly complex cases. For example, officers attend courses conducted by the Home Team School of Criminal Investigation to deepen their understanding of white-collar crime investigation, as well as the interpretation and application of relevant laws. The Police also conduct financial investigation workshops at the intermediate level for investigation officers, which involve sharing of best practices and case studies.”
“The Police do not separately track statistics of crimes handled by the Land Divisions vis-à-vis the specialised units. In fact, criminal investigations often require close collaboration between the Land Divisions and the specialised units. The Member asked for the number of white-collar crimes. For this reply, we have focused on traditional financial crime, which includes cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and fraud. We have not included cybercrime, such as hacking offences and scams. From 2017 to 2021, the Police investigated about 18,700 cases of white-collar crime, with a total subject matter value of about $4.49 billion. The time taken to solve cases depends on many factors, many of which are case-specific. These include the availability of evidence and witnesses, the number of transactions involved and the complexity of the funds flow, as well as the need to obtain evidence from foreign law enforcement agencies. As cases differ significantly from one another, it is not meaningful to publish an aggregate solution or clearance rate. We would like to point out that there is a limit to what Police can do, if the perpetrators are based overseas. Furthermore, with greater digitalisation and advancements in technology, such crimes have increased in numbers and complexity, and are straining investigative resources. The Police have taken steps to try to mitigate these challenges. First, re-organisation to optimise use of scarce resources. In March 2021, to consolidate expertise, a new Financial Investigation Division was formed to specialise in investigation of complex fraud cases, such as insurance fraud, trade financing fraud and counterfeit currencies. Second, by employing a suite of technological solutions to augment our manpower resources.”
“From 2018 to the first half of 2022, about 1,100 teenagers aged between 14 and 18 years old were investigated for the offence of voluntarily causing hurt. About 80% were male and about 330 were eventually charged. The number of such cases has decreased over the past five years. Police do not track the reasons behind the commission of such offences, but their general sense is that the top reasons would include disputes between known parties, retaliatory actions, conflict arising from staring incidents or passing of remarks and relationship issues.”
“If officers are assessed at any point to be unsuitable to carry firearms, they will not be issued with firearms and will be redeployed to other duties to allow them to settle down and recover from whatever strains they may be facing. We will continue to strengthen the support for the mental health and well-being of officers in the Home Team and the APFs.”
“The Home Team makes external counselling services available to all our officers, including frontline officers. The aim is to make it easier for them to access external help. This is confidential and anonymous, and we do not track who attends these services. The external counsellors will activate emergency services if they assess that there could be a threat of harm by the officers to themselves or to others. The Police do not track the number of officers who have sought counselling or para-counselling assistance. Officers are not required to report their engagement of such assistance, as the confidentiality of help-seeking is important to encourage officers with problems to come forward. Officers who seek help are not specifically disadvantaged in their career because they had sought help. They are assessed on their on-the-job performance and their promotion is based on merit and their potential to assume higher appointments. SPF psychologists try and demystify the myths and stigma of help-seeking during their regular mental health outreach to all the Police officers. There is increased outreach every October, in line with World Mental Health Day, to build awareness of the importance of mental health and to encourage help-seeking. Where the bearing of firearms is concerned: all Police officers and Auxiliary Police Officers (APOs) undergo security vetting before employment. Medical and psychological assessments are conducted as part of the recruitment process for the SPF and for most of the Auxiliary Police Forces (APFs). Supervisors engage officers to check on their well-being. Officers are also encouraged to alert their supervisors if they think their peers may need help.”
“Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim and Dr Shahira Abdullah had also asked similar questions scheduled for a future Sitting. I will address these questions together with Mr Melvin Yong's question for a holistic reply. Between January 2018 and September 2022, 74 uniformed officers in the Home Team passed away while in service. The majority of these deaths were due to illnesses or natural causes. Eight deaths were ruled as suicide. The cause of death for three others which had elements to suggest possible suicide, are pending coronial investigations. As regards mental health: Home Team officers are provided with avenues of support from the time they join us. Resilience and stress management training are provided to all new officers. We provide training on detection of personal distress and this includes suicide prevention. Staff feedback is collected through regular staff engagement and pulse surveys, and the concerns raised include issues which officers may face in the workplace. Home Team supervisors are trained with the skills to identify and support officers who need help. This approach and culture have been built over several years. Across the Home Team Departments, in-house psychological services are made available to officers, including first responders. Psychologists in the Home Team Departments attend to the mental health needs of the officers. Peer support programmes, such as para-counsellors, have also been implemented in Home Team Departments to provide care and support. For the Singapore Police Force (SPF), there is also a 24/7 helpline managed in-house by our psychologists and SPF senior para-counsellors. We have another external agency-administered 24/7 helpline which is available to all Home Team officers.”
“The Police are monitoring potential human trafficking of scam victims, who are lured by scam syndicates to "work" in other countries. As the Minister for Home Affairs informed Parliament in September 2022, since 2021, there has been one Police report involving potential Singaporean victims. In this report, the complainant claimed that he had heard from another party, that there were Singaporean victims possibly being kept against their will in Myanmar to work for scam syndicates there. The complainant stated that he had not personally spoken to the said Singaporeans and did not have any other information or details regarding the identity of the Singaporeans. The Police have referred this case to their counterpart in Myanmar for assistance. Singapore participates in various regional efforts to discuss cooperation on combating transnational crime, including scams and trafficking in persons. This includes the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime and its Working Group on trafficking in persons, as well as the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime. We will continue to work closely with other countries to address the threat of scams and trafficking in persons.”
“Today, all motorists aged 65 years and above must pass a medical examination and be certified fit-to-drive by a Singapore-registered medical practitioner, before they can revalidate their Singapore driving licence. The medical examination covers eyesight, hearing, movement, past medical history and physical or mental conditions which may render the person unfit to drive. For Class 2 and Class 3 driving licences, which are for motorcycles and light motor vehicles respectively, the revalidation cycle is every three years. There is no maximum age limit. For Class 4, 4A and 5 driving licenses, which are for various categories of heavy vehicle, the revalidation cycle is every year. In addition, motorists must clear a Proficiency Driving Test annually as well. The maximum age limit is 75 years. Motorists above this age are not allowed to drive heavy vehicles. The regime strikes a balance between road safety and giving senior citizens the convenience of driving and for some, it is also their livelihood. The Ministry will continue to monitor the situation and review as necessary.”
“Registering with SSIR is currently voluntary, applicable only to organisations which register their Sender ID. The public may, therefore, still receive phishing SMSes that spoof Sender IDs belonging to organisations that are not on SSIR, or that use Sender IDs that do not belong to any organisation. To close this gap, IMDA is looking to make SSIR registration a requirement for all organisations that use Sender IDs by end-2022. SMSes with non-registered Sender IDs will then be blocked as a default. IMDA is also looking to introduce anti-scam SMS filtering solutions, to filter out malicious hyperlinks and scam messages, applicable to all SMSes sent through telecommunication networks. These filters are designed to work like a security firewall, using automated machine scanning to filter out malicious URL hyperlinks and scam messages. IMDA's public consultations on these proposals are ongoing till 14 September 2022. The IMCS will work closely with IMDA to study the views received.”
“The Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams (IMCS) takes a sector-based, risk-calibrated approach to the removal of hyperlinks in SMSes. This is in consideration of the trade-offs between the risks of phishing and the facilitation of services, which hyperlinks enable. IMCS has worked with the Association of Banks in Singapore to get banks to remove hyperlinks in SMSes sent to retail customers. As for Government agencies, hyperlinks in SMSes are still necessary in the provision of public services in certain circumstances, such as mobilising citizens to get vaccinated during COVID-19. To mitigate the risks, if the Government agency assesses that it is necessary to send hyperlinks in SMSes, the agency will only use a domain1 ending with ".gov.sg", and will not ask users to provide their credentials through websites accessed through the hyperlinks. IMCS will continue to study the use of hyperlinks in other sectors and work with sector partners to adjust their use if necessary. As scammers may pivot to other communication channels, the removal of hyperlinks in SMSes does not eliminate the risk of users falling prey to phishing attempts. Users should continue to exercise vigilance. To further secure SMSes from scams, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) implemented the Singapore SMS Sender ID Registry (SSIR) in March this year. Organisations, including e-commerce companies which wish to protect their SMS Sender IDs, can register their Sender ID with SSIR. SSIR reduces the risk of SMS phishing by blocking messages using spoofed Sender IDs which had already been registered with SSIR. SMS aggregators are required to refer to SSIR and block SMSes that use spoofed Sender IDs which had been registered with SSIR.”
“Any business that provides massage services within their premises must be licensed under the Massage Establishments Act 2017, unless they meet the criteria for exemption. From 2018 to 2021, the Police detected more than 300 cases of vice activities in commercial outlets, including both licensed and unlicensed massage establishments. The operators of these outlets who were found to be involved in the vice activities were taken to task under the Women's Charter 1961. As vice activities could take place under the guise of any commercial businesses, Police do not track statistics of vice activities in beauty salons specifically. The Police will continue to keep a close watch on the vice situation in Singapore and will not hesitate to take the necessary enforcement actions to stamp out vice activities.”
“As at 30 August 2022, there are about 3,200 inmates who are eligible for the NS55 credits and about 150 inmates have claimed their NS55 credits. Singapore Prison Service (SPS) has been liaising with MINDEF to work out the process to allow inmates to redeem the NS55 credits. The process and list of eligible inmates have since been firmed up. All eligible inmates are in the process of being briefed on the redemption process and can nominate a family member or a friend to liaise with the NS55 Call Centre on their behalf to collect the hard copy vouchers.”
“Since 2021, there has been one Police report made, whereby the complainant claimed that he had heard from another party, that there were Singaporean victims possibly being kept against their will in Myanmar to work for scam syndicates there. The complainant stated that he had not personally spoken to the said Singaporeans and did not have any other information or details regarding the identities of the Singaporeans. The Police has referred this case to its counterpart in Myanmar for assistance. Police will continue to monitor the situation. Members of the public who suspect that their family members were kept overseas against their will should make a Police report.”
“The Government last reviewed and enhanced the penalties for drink driving offences in July 2019. The enhancements were brought into force in November 2019. In 2019, there were 2,051 drink driving offences and 162 accidents attributed to drink driving. The number of offences fell to 1,576 in 2020, and further to 1,470 in 2021. In 2020, there were 146 accidents attributed to drink driving, and this increased slightly to 155 in 2021. The decreases may be because of lower road traffic volumes during the pandemic. A longer period of monitoring will be required in order to make any meaningful assessment.”
“The additional guidelines in TR 76 are part of the safety features rated in the TSR. Together, TSR and TR 76 aim to raise consumer and industry awareness, and encourage the use of safety features and good practices when transacting online. While the additional anti-scam guidelines in TR 76 are not mandatory, they were developed through consensus by a multi-stakeholder Working Group that included e-commerce marketplace representatives. MHA will monitor the situation and assess whether further measures, including regulations, are required. As of 31 July 2022, more than 300,500 users have downloaded the ScamShield app, which is currently only available on the iOS platform. More than 5.1 million SMSes have been reported, and over 24,500 phone numbers believed to be used for scam calls have been blocked. The National Crime Prevention Council and GovTech are working to launch the Android version of ScamShield by this month. We encourage the public to make full use of the ScamShield app to protect themselves from scams.”
“To secure e-commerce transactions from scams, in May 2022, the Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams launched the E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR), and worked with industry stakeholders including e-commerce marketplaces, payment service and logistics providers to launch the revised national standards for e-commerce transactions in Technical Reference 76 (TR 76). The TSR informs consumers on the transaction safety of major e-commerce marketplaces in Singapore – Amazon, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee, Carousell and Facebook Marketplace. E-commerce marketplaces are assigned an overall safety rating, ranging from one to four ticks, based on the anti-scam measures they have in place to ensure (a) user authenticity, (b) transaction safety, (c) availability of loss remediation channels for their consumers, and (d) effectiveness of their anti-scam measures. Amazon, Lazada and Qoo10 were awarded the highest rating of four ticks, as they had all critical anti-scam measures in place. The TSR also provides advisories on safety features that consumers can look out for when transacting online, as well as specific features provided by each e-commerce marketplace. Further details on the TSR can be found at the following link: https://www.mha.gov.sg/ecommerce-marketplace-transaction-safety-ratings. The revised TR 76 includes additional guidelines targeted at e-retailers and e-commerce marketplaces to ensure merchant authenticity and improve transaction security. Examples include verifying merchant information against Government records, and implementing post-purchase protection mechanisms such as secured escrow payment options. The TR 76 is available for viewing at the following link: https://www.singaporestandardseshop.sg/Covid19/Desktop.”
“Stillbirth registration does not provide for the official naming of the stillborn child. The registration process was designed this way for two reasons. First, names of stillborn children, like in abortions, are not required for the Government to administer public policies and programmes. Second, it allows the registration process to be fully automated without parents having to take any action. This is to alleviate any administrative burden while they may still be grieving. These improvements to the registration process for the public, and associated changes in ICA's systems, were implemented in May this year, following the recent amendments to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act. To change the current stillbirth registration process to include the name of a stillborn child will require further process and system changes. That said, MHA recognises that some parents may wish to name their stillborn children. We will study the feasibility and pros and cons, during our next review of the policy and process, including alternative options such as a commemorative birth certificate. Thus far, the ICA has received only one request to do so.”
“MHA is targeting to bring the provisions of the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA) relating to Politically Significant Persons (PSPs) into force in 2023. MHA will notify PSPs prior to the commencement of the provisions, so that they have adequate time to make the necessary preparations.”
“ICA has included parents' dialect in the digital birth certificate of a child from 1 September 2022. For digital birth certificates issued between 29 May and 31 August 2022, parents may re-download their child's digital birth certificate with the inclusion of the parents' dialect at no additional cost. Besides the child's digital birth certificate, information relating to a person's dialect is available in SingPass. Singaporeans who have a SingPass account can access their dialect information under the Personal tab. For those below the age of 21, their dialect information can be found in their parents' SingPass profile, under the Family tab. Those who wish to check the dialect of an individual can do so via the individual's SingPass, which is the authoritative source of the latest registered dialect information.”
“From January 2018 to August 2022, there were 4,535 fires in HDB units. The main causes of these fires were unattended cooking, indiscriminate disposal of lighted materials such as cigarette butts, and faulty electrical appliances. 15 of them also involved HDB units that had signs of hoarding-like behaviour. Of these 15 fires, two involved public rental flats while none involved two-room flexi flats. SCDF does not have information on the number of fires involving HDB units with signs of hoarding-like behaviour, prior to 2018.”
“From 2017 to 2021, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) received annually, an average of 52,700 applications for Student's Pass (STP) to study in private schools. A large majority – about 80% – were successful, while about 20% were rejected. Securing a place in a school does not and cannot guarantee STP approval. ICA assesses each STP application holistically, and on its individual merits. For example, an applicant could be rejected because he has adverse records, or is unable to show that he has the ability to financially support himself for the duration of the course.”
“Under the Family Ties Scheme (FTS), Singapore citizens can sponsor their spouses, unmarried minor children, and parents for Permanent Residence (PR) and Singapore Citizenship (SC). We will set out the numbers, based on the PR and SC applications which were processed. From 2019 to 2021, under the FTS, an average of 9,500 PR applications per year were processed. Seven thousand and six hundred were from spouses of citizens, with 62% approved. Six hundred were from unmarried minor children of citizens, with 24% approved. One thousand and three hundred were from parents of citizens, with 2% approved. From 2019 to 2021, under the FTS, an average of 7,000 SC applications per year were processed. Three thousand and five hundred were from spouses of citizens, with 90% approved. Three thousand and two hundred were from unmarried minor children of citizens, with 93% approved. Three hundred were from parents of citizens, with 28% approved.”
“Persons found to have knowingly committed drug offences will be dealt with in accordance with the law. When a person is found to have consumed drugs, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) will investigate. If the consumption was unwitting, or involuntary, usually no offence would have been committed. To educate the public, CNB works with the media to report cases where food products containing cannabis were seized by CNB from persons who brought the items in from overseas. CNB also partners with various stakeholders such as educational institutions and National Service institutions to create awareness of the harms of cannabis among students and full-time national servicemen through preventive drug education programmes such as talks, skits and exhibitions, videos and informational toolkits. Further, CNB is working towards engaging travelers, at physical touchpoints such as the checkpoints, to caution them against the purchase of such items overseas. We urge persons travelling to countries where food, beverage and other products containing controlled drugs may be sold, to be careful and check if a product contains controlled drugs. If in doubt, do not purchase or consume the product.”
“The Community Mediation Centre (CMC) is a centre run by the MinLaw that offers residents an avenue to resolve their disputes amicably through mediation. Residents can apply for mediation directly or be referred to the CMC for mediation by public agencies, such as HDB and Singapore Police Force, and organisations such as Town Councils and Family Service Centres. Attendance for such mediation is voluntary. Voluntary cases make up about 86% of registered cases. About 77% of voluntary cases do not proceed to mediation. Reasons include, among others, either party not responding to the CMC's invitation to mediate or declining to mediate. Cases are also referred to the CMC by the Magistrate's Courts and Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals. Attendance for such mediation is mandatory. Such cases make up about 14% of registered cases. Whilst 88% of neighbour dispute cases mediated at the CMC were settled in 2021, the overall settlement rate at the CMC over the last five years was about 80%. Data on cases registered at the CMC between 2017 and 2021 is provided in Table 1 below. As the Government has stated several times, there has been a low take-up rate for community mediation. This is due to several factors, including the fact that community mediation is voluntary and parties are not obliged to proceed to mediation, particularly if they are the ones whose conduct is in question. The Government had said earlier this year that it is considering what can be done to increase the participation in mediation. The CMC encourages residents who face relational disputes to attempt mediation at the CMC, so that they would have an opportunity to discuss mutually acceptable solutions.”
“Larger B&W bungalows tend to have lower per square feet rental rates than smaller B&W bungalows. As of June 2022, occupancy rates for larger B&W bungalows are lower than those for smaller B&W bungalows.”
“Residential state Black and White (B&W) bungalows managed by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) are made available for tender through SLA's website, State Property Information Online (SPIO). The bungalows are open to all bidders who are able to meet the reserve rent which is based on the prevailing market rate as assessed by valuers. SLA currently manages 262 residential state B&W bungalows which exceed 20,000 square feet in land area. As of 21 July 2022, 236 of these residential state B&W bungalows are tenanted, with a median land size of about 38,000 square feet and a median rental of about $13,000 per month. These residential state B&W bungalows are typically tenanted on two- or three-year terms. SLA does not disclose rentals of individual bungalows but does publish the results of recent open tenders on their website for a period of time. The rentals fetched depends on the state of the market. It would be unwise to compare rental fetched by a private GCB in the last few month with, for example, a B&W bungalow rented out last year or the year before. There are also many factors, other than the timing and state of the market, which affect rental values. One such factor is the state of the property. The B&W bungalows were built in the early 1900s and tenants would often need to invest in the installation of additional fittings, such as air-conditioning, carpentry works and upgrading to facilities such as kitchens and toilets. They will not have the look, facilities and fittings which modern GCBs will have. Nonetheless, the B&W bungalows will appeal to those who do not need such modern gadgetry and fittings. Ultimately, the market decides on the rental. The demand for B&W bungalows has generally been better this year, compared with previous years.”
“For the last 10 years, from 2012 to 2021, there have been five approvals given under the Residential Property Act (RPA) for the acquisition of Good Class Bungalows (GCBs) by non-Singaporeans. The acquirers were Singapore Permanent Residents (SPRs). Of the five GCBs, two were inheritance cases, involving transfers between family members. Thus, only three GCBs in the past 10 years were new purchases. Applications to purchase GCBs are carefully assessed against stringent criteria and approvals are only granted to SPRs that meet the criteria. The data has to be collated manually and takes effort and time. If the Member requires the collation of transaction data further beyond 2012, which is the last 10 years, he can write to the relevant agencies with the reasons for his request. The agencies will then look for and collate the data.”
“Education will be helpful to protect people from falling prey to scams. When there are instances detected, the Police will issue alerts to warn members of the public. The Police also regularly share crime information, including scam prevention advice, with grassroots volunteers for the purpose of their engagement with residents. Volunteer Crime Prevention Ambassadors from the National Crime Prevention Council also share crime prevention tips with residents during their engagements. The best defence against scams is a discerning public. We urge the public to practise healthy skepticism and to verify the legitimacy of any door-to-door charitable collection before they donate.”
“Based on available records, there were about 30 reported cases of unlicensed door-to-door collections or donation scams since 2021. Thus far, the Police have managed to identify the perpetrators in about two-thirds of these cases. As investigations are ongoing, we would not be able to share more details. Unlicensed door-to-door collections or donation scams usually involve persons claiming to be from charities or fund-raising organisations. They may present to victims fake or forged collection permits or licences to deceive victims into making donations. A House to House and Street Collections (HHSC) licence is required for any door-to-door soliciting of donations. These licences bear the name of the beneficiary, the name of the licensee and the period for which the licence is valid. When approached for donations, we encourage the public to verify the legitimacy of the collection and practise the steps of "Ask, Check, then Give". First, ask the collector who the beneficiary is, what the donations will be used for, and how they can receive updates. Members of the public may also request for the Collector's Certificate of Authority, which would reflect the licence number, for verification. Next, check via the Charity Portal at "https://www.charities.gov.sg" to verify if the beneficiary is a registered charity. Members of the public may also refer to the Police@SG application, which has a link to the Charities and Fund-Raising search engine of the Charity Portal. Once assured that their donations will go to a genuine cause, members of the public can donate with more peace of mind. Should there be reasons to believe that a collection is illegitimate, members of the public may contact the Police at "999" for immediate assistance.”
“In the first half of 2022, about 200 accused persons were ordered by the Court to be tagged electronically as a condition of their bail. Of these, two are currently wanted by the Police for failing to attend court proceedings. Under the Criminal Procedure Code, accused persons who are charged for any offence punishable by death or life imprisonment will not be released on bail. For other serious crimes, law enforcement agencies conduct a flight risk assessment of the accused person, taking into consideration, among other factors, the type of crime committed, the penalty of the offence, and the value of the property that is misappropriated. If the Court believes that the accused person poses high risk of abscondment, the Court can order him to be remanded. If the accused person is offered bail nonetheless, the Court can impose electronic tagging. The Court or law enforcement agencies can also impound the travel document of the accused person and increase the number of sureties or the bail amount. If the accused person breaches the conditions of the bail, the Court may order him to be remanded instead. MHA reviews our policies on remand and bail regularly, including the use of electronic tagging for persons released on bail.”
“In addition, the MLCB system will automatically reject the submission of a loan application if the amount exceeds the maximum unsecured balance. The Registry of Moneylenders also conducts regular inspections on licensed moneylenders to ensure they comply with moneylending laws.”
“Licensed moneylenders are required by law to conduct due diligence and credit checks. This applies to all individuals who apply for a loan from licensed moneylenders, regardless of whether they are Singaporeans, PRs or foreigners. Before granting a loan to an individual, a licensed moneylender must obtain the loan applicant's personal details and income information from the applicant. The licensed moneylender must also verify the information obtained using genuine and contemporaneous documents, for example, identification documents, CPF contribution statements, payslips and so on. In addition, the licensed moneylender must obtain a credit report of the loan applicant from the Moneylenders Credit Bureau (MLCB) to conduct a creditworthiness assessment before deciding if a loan should be granted. The MLCB is a central data repository that contains records of borrowers' loans and repayment with licensed moneylenders. It provides up-to-date details of a borrower's creditworthiness and indebtedness through its credit reports. This enables licensed moneylenders to make informed and responsible lending decisions, and helps borrowers avoid borrowing beyond their means. To ensure that borrowers, including foreign borrowers, do not exceed the applicable aggregate loan cap, such as the $500 cap for foreigners earning less than $10,000 per annum, the credit report from the MLCB will indicate the maximum unsecured loan amount an individual can borrow (based on his/her income level) from all licensed moneylenders combined. If the individual already has outstanding loans with licensed moneylenders, the credit report will indicate the maximum unsecured balance he/she can borrow.”
“Between 2000 and 2021, an average of about 290 naturalised Singapore citizens (SCs) renounced their SC status annually. Between 2000 and 2018, an average of about 3,370 Permanent Residents (PRs) renounced their PR status annually.”
“The average number of new citizenships granted each year (that is, citizenship by registration, and citizenship by descent) from 2000 to 2021 and their breakdown by gender and age is as follows:”
“In 2021, there were 18 Personal Mobility Device (PMD)-related fires in HDB blocks, all involving PMDs that were not compliant, or could not be determined to be compliant, with the UL2272 standards. From January to June 2022, there were five PMD-related fires in HDB blocks, down from 11 cases during the same period in 2021. Similar to 2021, all these fires involved PMDs that were non-compliant, or could not be determined to be compliant, with the UL2272 standards. When a PMD-related fire occurs, the inter-agency Active Mobility Fire Safety Taskforce co-chaired by the Singapore Civil Defence Force and Land Transport Authority will jointly investigate the incident. Users will be taken to task if they are found to have used non-compliant PMDs. They can be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding S$10,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both.”
“CNB works with foreign counterparts in dealing with these matters. CNB also engages private sector entities such as social network services, e-commerce businesses, Internet service providers, and technology companies, to seek their cooperation in detecting and preventing the advertisement of controlled drugs, for example by taking down such advertisements, banning the accounts being used to peddle the drugs and publishing anti-drug advisories. Through such partnerships and its own enforcement efforts, between 2019 and 2021, CNB arrested 86 suspected drug traffickers who used specific applications to conduct drug transactions.”
“The two Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) development projects audited by AGO commenced construction in FY2015 and FY2016 and obtained their Temporary Occupation Permits (TOP) in FY2018 and FY2020, respectively. They were completed prior to the issuance of AGO’s findings on HDB in 2021. MHA has reminded officers managing construction projects to adopt the good practices in Appendix S8-6 of the IM on Procurement. We have been conducting engagement sessions with Home Team Departments (HTDs) to share best practices such as lessons from the AGO’s audits and BCA’s Good Practice Guide. There are several layers of safeguards. At the same time, the Member must note that there are a very substantial number of projects every year. While every effort is taken, human error and sometimes bad conduct, cannot be completely eliminated. We are using technology increasingly to pick up anomalies and are reminding officers of the processes. We will continue to do so.”
“Having banks co-locate their staff with Police at the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) enables banks to provide real-time assistance to the Police, to coordinate investigative efforts, trace the flow of the funds, and freeze bank accounts suspected to be involved in the scammers' operation. As of July 2022, we have staff from DBS, OCBC, UOB, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank co-located at the ASC. ASC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore are working with more banks to likewise co-locate their staff at the ASC, to provide real-time coordination and timely intervention.”