Casino Control Act 2006 (Singapore)/Part XIII

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PART XIII
MISCELLANEOUS

Offences by bodies corporate, etc.

189.—(1) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved—

(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the body corporate; or

(b) to be attributable to any neglect on his part,

the officer as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

(3) Where an offence under this Act committed by a partnership is proved—

(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of a partner; or

(b) to be attributable to any neglect on his part,

the partner as well as the partnership shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(4) Where an offence under this Act committed by an unincorporated association (other than a partnership) is proved—

(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the unincorporated association or a member of its governing body; or

(b) to be attributable to any neglect on the part of such an officer or member,

the officer or member as well as the unincorporated association shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(5) In this section—

“body corporate” includes a limited liability partnership which has the same meaning as in section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005 (Act 5 of 2005);

“officer”—

(a) in relation to a body corporate, means any director, partner, member of the committee of management, Chief Executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity; or

(b) in relation to an unincorporated association (other than a partnership), means the president, the secretary, or any member of the committee of the unincorporated association, or any person holding a position analogous to that of president, secretary or member of a committee and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity;

“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.

(6) Regulations may provide for the application of any provision of this section, with such modifications as the Authority considers appropriate, to any body corporate or unincorporated association formed or recognised under the law of a territory outside Singapore.

Preservation of secrecy

190.—(1) Except for the purpose of the performance of his duties or the exercise of his functions or when lawfully required to do so by any court or under the provisions of any written law, no person who is or has been—

(a) a member, an officer, an employee or an agent of the Authority;

(b) a person on secondment or attachment to the Authority;

(c) a person authorised, appointed, employed or directed by the Authority to exercise the Authority’s powers, perform the Authority’s functions or discharge the Authority’s duties or to assist the Authority in the exercise of its powers, the performance of its functions or the discharge of its duties under this Act or any other written law;

(d) an inspector or a person authorised, appointed or employed to assist an inspector in connection with any function or duty of the inspector under this Act; or

(e) an officer of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore,

shall disclose any information relating to the affairs of the Authority or of any other person which has been obtained by him in the performance of his duties or the exercise of his functions.

(2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.

Co-operation between Authority and foreign casino regulatory bodies

191.—(1) The Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, enter into arrangements with any foreign casino regulatory body whereby each party to the arrangements may—

(a) furnish to the other party information in its possession if the information is required by that other party for the purpose of performance by it of any of its functions; and

(b) provide such other assistance to the other party as will facilitate the performance by that other party of any of its functions.

(2) The Authority shall not furnish any information to a foreign casino regulatory body pursuant to such arrangements unless it requires of, and obtains from, that body an undertaking in writing by it that it will comply with terms specified in that requirement, including terms that correspond to the provisions of any other written law concerning the disclosure of that information by the Authority.

(3) The Authority may give an undertaking to a foreign casino regulatory body that it will comply with terms specified in a requirement made of the Authority by the body to give such an undertaking where—

(a) those terms correspond to the provisions of any law in force in the country or territory in which the body is established, being provisions which concern the disclosure by the body of the information referred to in paragraph (b); and

(b) compliance with the requirement is a condition imposed by the body for furnishing information in its possession to the Authority pursuant to the arrangements referred to in subsection (1).

(4) In this section, “foreign casino regulatory body” means a person in whom there are vested functions under the law of another country or territory with respect to the enforcement or the administration of provisions of law of that country or territory concerning casinos.

Protection from liability

192. No action, suit or other legal proceedings shall lie against the Authority or personally against—

(a) any member, officer, employee or agent of the Authority;

(b) any member of the Council, any person authorised, appointed or employed to assist the Council or any member of any Committee of Assessors constituted under section 157(1);

(c) any person who is on secondment or attachment to the Authority;

(d) any person authorised, appointed, employed or directed by the Authority to exercise the Authority’s powers, perform the Authority’s functions or discharge the Authority’s duties or to assist the Authority in the exercise of its powers, the performance of its functions or the discharge of its duties under this Act or any other written law; or

(e) any inspector or any person authorised, appointed or employed to assist an inspector in connection with any function or duty of the inspector under this Act,

for anything done (including any statement made) or omitted to be done in good faith in the course of or in connection with—

(i) the exercise or purported exercise of any power under this Act or any other written law;

(ii) the performance or purported performance of any function or the discharge or purported discharge of any duty under this Act or any other written law; or

(iii) the compliance or purported compliance with this Act or any other written law.

Public servants

193. All members, officers and employees of the Authority, all inspectors and all members of the Council and any Committee of Assessors constituted under section 157(1) shall be deemed to be public servants for the purposes of the Penal Code (Cap. 224).

Jurisdiction of court

194. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68), a District Court shall have jurisdiction to try any offence under this Act and shall have power to impose the full penalty or punishment in respect of the offence.

General penalty

195.—(1) Any casino operator guilty of an offence under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000.

(2) Any person (other than a casino operator) guilty of an offence under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

(3) Unless otherwise expressly provided, where a corporation (other than a casino operator) is convicted of an offence under this Act, the penalty that the court may impose is a fine not exceeding 2 times the maximum amount that, but for this subsection, the court could impose as a fine for that offence.

Composition of offences

196.—(1) The Authority may, in its discretion, compound any offence under this Act which is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding—

(a) one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence; or

(b) $5,000,

whichever is the lower.

(2) On payment of such sum of money, no further proceedings shall be taken against that person in respect of the offence.

(3) The Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, make regulations to prescribe the offences which may be compounded.

(4) All sums collected under this section shall be paid to the Authority.

Fines and financial penalties to be paid to Authority

197.—(1) All fines imposed under this Act shall be paid to the Authority.

(2) Any financial penalty payable by any person under this Act shall be paid to the Authority and recoverable by the Authority as a debt due to the Authority from that person; and the person’s liability to pay shall not be affected by his licence ceasing, for any reason, to be in force.

General exemption

198. The Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, by order, exempt any person or premises or any class of persons or premises from all or any of the provisions of this Act, subject to such terms or conditions as may be specified in the order.

Service of summonses and notices, etc.

199.—(1) Any summons, notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act to be given to or served on any person, and any summons issued by a court against any person in connection with any offence under this Act may be served on the person—

(a) by delivering it to the person or to some adult member or employee of his family or household at his last known place of residence;

(b) by leaving it at his usual or last known place of residence or place of business in an envelope addressed to the person;

(c) by sending it by registered post addressed to the person at his usual or last known place of residence or place of business; or

(d) in the case of an incorporated company, a partnership or a body of persons—

(i) by delivering it to the secretary or other like officer of the company, partnership or body of persons at its registered office or principal place of business; or

(ii) by sending it by registered post addressed to the company, partnership or body of persons at its registered office or principal place of business.

(2) Any notice, order, document or summons sent by registered post to any person in accordance with subsection (1) shall be deemed to be duly served on the person at the time when the notice, order, document or summons, as the case may be, would in the ordinary course of post be delivered and, in proving service of the notice, order, document or summons, it shall be sufficient to prove that the envelope containing the same was properly addressed, stamped and posted by registered post.

(3) Any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises or any summons issued by a court against any such owner or occupier in connection with any offence under this Act may be served by delivering it or a true copy thereof to some adult person on the premises or, if there is no such person on the premises to whom it can with reasonable diligence be delivered, by affixing the notice, order, document or summons to some conspicuous part of the premises.

(4) Any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises or any summons issued by a court against any such owner or occupier in connection with any offence under this Act shall be deemed to be properly addressed if addressed by the description of the owner or occupier of the premises without further name or description.

Regulations

200.—(1) The Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, make regulations for any purpose for which regulations are required to be made under this Act and generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, make regulations for or with respect to all or any of the following matters:

(a) the manner of appointment, conduct and discipline and the terms and conditions of service of inspectors and other employees of the Authority;

(b) the establishment of funds for the payment of gratuities and other benefits to employees of the Authority;

(c) the fees to be charged in respect of anything done or any services rendered by the Authority under or by virtue of this Act;

(d) the installations, devices and equipment to be provided on casino premises for gaming, surveillance, communications and other purposes and the maintenance of the installations, devices and equipment;

(e) the hours of operation of a casino and any temporary cessation of operation;

(f) the facilities and amenities to be provided for patrons of, and inspectors on duty in, a casino and the maintenance of those amenities;

(g) the provision to players of gaming machines in a casino of information relevant to gaming on gaming machines;

(h) the adjudicating of disputes between a casino operator and its patrons;

(i) the provision and security of drop boxes and other places for the depositing of money;

(j) advertising relating to a casino;

(k) the submission of reports by casino operators;

(l) regulating within casino premises the activities of persons who are on the casino premises in the course of their employment or prohibiting any of those activities;

(m) the testing of operations, or of proposed operations, in a casino;

(n) regulating the conduct of gaming and provision of credit for gaming in a casino;

(o) standards for the manufacture or supply of gaming equipment for use in a casino;

(p) the movement, acquisition, storage, servicing, rectification or destruction of gaming equipment used or for use in a casino;

(q) the form of controlled contracts within the meaning of section 72, the approval of the Authority in relation to specified classes of those contracts and the requirements for disclosure to the Authority of any such contracts;

(r) the establishment of a system of awarding demerit points for the purpose of disciplinary actions against casino operators, licensed special employees of a casino or licensed junket promoters;

(s) the hearing of appeals to the Minister;

(t) anti-money-laundering requirements;

(u) additional duties of auditors of casino operators;

(v) any other matter or thing required or permitted to be prescribed or necessary to be prescribed to give effect to this Act.

(3) Regulations made under this Act—

(a) may provide that any contravention of any provision of the regulations shall be an offence punishable with—

(i) in the case of a casino operator, a fine not exceeding $100,000; or

(ii) in any other case, a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both;

(b) may be of general or of specially limited application;

(c) may differ according to differences in time, place or circumstance; and

(d) may provide for such transitional, savings and other consequential, incidental and supplemental provisions as the Minister considers necessary or expedient.

Related amendments to Civil Law Act

201. Section 5 of the Civil Law Act (Cap. 43) is amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (3), the following subsections:

“(3A) Subsections (1) and (2) shall not apply to—

(a) a contract for gaming that is conducted under the control or supervision of a person or an organisation that is exempted under section 24 of the Common Gaming Houses Act (Cap. 49) from the provisions of that Act in respect of such gaming;

(b) a contract for betting that is held, promoted, organised, administered or operated by a person or an organisation that is exempted under section 22 of the Betting Act (Cap. 21) from the provisions of that Act in respect of such betting, only if the betting takes place under the control or supervision of that person or organisation;

(c) a contract for betting that takes place on a totalisator conducted by or on behalf of the Singapore Totalisator Board or a turf club in accordance with an approved scheme; and

(d) a contract to participate in a private lottery promoted or conducted by the holder of a permit granted under section 4 of the Private Lotteries Act (Cap. 250).

(3B) In the case of a person or an organisation exempted under section 24 of the Common Gaming Houses Act in respect of any gaming conducted for or on behalf of another person or organisation, subsection (3A)(a) applies only if the contract is for gaming conducted by that person or organisation for or on behalf of that other person or organisation.

(3C) Subsection (3A)(a) shall not apply to any gaming conducted in premises owned or used by a private body exempted under the Common Gaming Houses Act.

(3D) In the case of a person or an organisation exempted under section 22 of the Betting Act in respect of any betting held, promoted, organised, administered or operated for or on behalf of another person or organisation, subsection (3A)(b) applies only if the contract is for betting held, promoted, organised, administered or operated by that person or organisation for or on behalf of that other person or organisation.

(3E) In subsection (3A)—

“contract” excludes a contract for or which involves—

(a) the lending of any money or other valuable thing for such gaming or wagering;

(b) the extension of any form of credit for such gaming or wagering; or

(c) the giving of security in respect of the act referred to in paragraph (a) or (b);

“private body” has the same meaning as in any notification made under the Common Gaming Houses Act (Cap. 49) which exempts gaming conducted in premises owned or used by a private body;

“private lottery” has the same meaning as in the Private Lotteries Act (Cap. 250);

“totalisator”, “Singapore Totalisator Board”, “turf club” and

“approved scheme” have the same meanings as in the Singapore Totalisator Board Act (Cap. 305A).”.

Related amendments to Income Tax Act

202. The Income Tax Act (Cap. 134) is amended—

(a) by inserting, immediately after subsection (7) of section 12, the following subsections:

“(8) There shall be deemed to be derived from Singapore any commission or other payment paid to a junket promoter for arranging a junket with a casino operator in Singapore which is—

(a) borne, directly or indirectly, by a person resident in Singapore or a permanent establishment in Singapore except in respect of any business carried on outside Singapore through a permanent establishment outside Singapore; or

(b) deductible against any income accruing in or derived from Singapore.

(9) In this section, “casino operator”, “junket” and “junket promoter” have the same meanings as in the Casino Control Act 2006.”;

(b) by inserting, immediately after section 45G, the following section:

“Application of section 45 to commission or other payment of junket promoter

45H.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), section 45 shall apply in relation to the payment of any commission or other payment by any person to a junket promoter not known to him to be resident in Singapore for arranging a junket with a casino operator in Singapore as section 45 applies to any interest paid by a person to another person not known to him to be resident in Singapore and, for the purpose of such application, any reference in that section to interest shall be construed as a reference to such commission or payment.

(2) For the purpose of this section, the deduction of tax under section 45 shall be at the rate of 3%.

(3) In this section, “casino operator”, “junket” and “junket promoter” have the same meanings as in the Casino Control Act 2006.”; and

(c) by deleting the words “or 45E(1)(a)” in section 46(1)(a) and substituting the words “, 45E(1)(a) or 45H”.