New Bill will give authorities bite against organised crime ringleaders
Mr S Iswaran, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry speaking at the Singapore-Indonesia Business Dialogue. Photo: Robin Choo
SINGAPORE — The authorities now have wide-ranging powers to launch pre-emptive strikes on organised crime groups to prevent their illicit activities from gaining a foothold in Singapore, including taking perpetrators to task without securing criminal convictions against them and confiscating their ill-gotten gains.
The Organised Crime Bill was passed in Parliament today (Aug 17), which Second Home Affairs Minister S Iswaran said would give the authorities bite against those higher up the chain in organised crime groups. For now, the spotlight will be trained on drug-trafficking and unlicensed moneylending syndicates.
Noting that current laws are targeted at those at the “lower rungs”, Mr Iswaran said such syndicates can easily regroup by replacing runners and street-level traffickers who are caught in the dragnet.
“(Organised crime groups) structure themselves to evade enforcement ... To be effective, we need to take action against persons higher up in the hierarchy,” he added.
An organised crime group is defined as a party of three or more individuals engaging in criminal activities for financial or material gains.
Aimed at clamping down on crime syndicates that operate over large and often transnational scales over a sustained period, the new law allows a court to issue orders to put a freeze on their activities, such as requiring individuals to submit financial reports and restricting their travel and work arrangements.
A court can now also order individuals to cough up sums equivalent to the ill-gotten gains they had pocketed. Any property that is disproportionate to his known income sources held by a participant in organised crime activity will be presumed to be loot.
Notably, activities that usually take place in the upper echelons of organised crime groups, such as the recruitment of members and the giving of instructions, are now criminalised.
While Members of Parliament rose in support of the Bill today, several questions were raised on safeguards to ensure that its broad scope would not be abused.
Addressing Mr Hri Kumar Nair’s (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) query on the steps to ascertain the purpose of a group’s activities, Mr Iswaran said one area that would be scrutinised is whether the plans are focused on financial gain. How the crime is executed and what is done with the proceeds of the crime will also be examined.
Mr Iswaran also stressed that the new law is targeted at groups that commit offences over a sustained period, and not those that carry out a one-off crime.
Mr Hri Kumar and Mr Alvin Yeo (Chua Chu Kang GRC) also raised concerns about the safeguards against court orders being unduly issued, given that criminal convictions against targeted persons are not required.
In response, Mr Iswaran said there is a separation of powers between law enforcement agencies that investigate suspected criminals and the Public Prosecutor who makes the final assessment on whether orders are to be applied for in the absence of a conviction.
The application has to pass muster with a High Court judge, who will also hear any arguments put up by the individual in question, he added. Furthermore, a channel for appeals is provided for.
In the case of confiscation orders, Mr Iswaran said it is fair to place the burden of proof on the subject to explain how he got hold of those assets.
“The subject will have the opportunity to show that his assets which are disproportionate to his known sources of income are not ill-gotten,” he said.
