Organised Crime Act 2015

Organised Crime Act 2015 2020 REVISED EDITION This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021 An Act to detect, investigate, prevent and disrupt organised crime activities and to deprive persons involved in such activities of the benefits of their crime. [1 June 2016] PART 1 PRELIMINARY Short title 1. This Act is the Organised Crime Act 2015. General interpretation 2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “associate with” means — (a) to be in habitual company with; or (b) to habitually communicate with by any means (including by post, fax, telephone, email or any other form of electronic communication); “conduct” means any act or omission, any series of acts or omissions, or both; “corporation” has the meaning given by section 4(1) of the Companies Act 1967; “disqualification order” means a disqualification order mentioned in section 39; “document” means anything in which information of any description is recorded, whether in electronic or any other form; “engage”, in relation to any conduct, means to engage, directly or indirectly, in the conduct either alone or together with any other person or persons; “FRO” means a financial reporting order mentioned in section 21; “group” means a group of 3 or more individuals (whether or not ordinarily resident in Singapore), however organised, including by forming a company or association or body of persons, corporate or unincorporate, whether or not — (a) the company or association or body of persons is based within or outside Singapore; or (b) the company or association or body of persons is part of a larger group; “illegal purpose”, in relation to a locally-linked organised criminal group or an organised criminal group, means the purpose mentioned in the definition of “locally‑linked organised criminal group” or “organised criminal group”, respectively; “law enforcement agency” means — (a) the Singapore Police Force; (b) the Central Narcotics Bureau; (c) the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority; (d) the Commercial Affairs Department; [Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025] (e) any similar department or office of the Government prescribed by the Minister by notification in the Gazette; or [Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025] (f) any similar department or office of a public body prescribed by the Minister by notification in the Gazette; [Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025] “law enforcement officer” means — (a) a police officer; (b) an officer of the Central Narcotics Bureau; (c) an immigration officer appointed under section 3 of the Immigration Act 1959; (d) a Commercial Affairs Officer appointed under section 64 of the Police Force Act 2004; [Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025] (e) any other public officer or class of public officers authorised in writing by the Minister for the purposes of this Act; or [Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025] (f) any officer or class of officers of a public body authorised in writing by the Minister for the purposes of this Act; [Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025] “locally-linked organised criminal group” means a group that has as its only purpose, or one of its purposes, the obtaining of a financial or other material benefit from the commission by, or the facilitation of the commission by, any person (whether or not the person is a member of the group) of any serious offence; “locally-linked organised criminal scam group” means a group that has as its only purpose, or one of its purposes, the obtaining of a financial or other material benefit from the commission by, or the facilitation of the commission by, any person (whether or not the person is a member of the group) of any serious scam offence; [Act 21 of 2025 wef 30/12/2025] “OCPO” means an organised crime prevention order mentioned in section 15; “organised criminal group” means a group that has as its only purpose, or one of its purposes, the obtaining of a financial or other material benefit from the commission by, or the facilitation of the commission by, any person (whether or not the person is a member of the group) of — (a) any serious offence; or (b) any act outside Singapore that, if the act occurred in Singapore, would constitute a serious offence; “organised criminal scam group” means a group that has as its only purpose, or one of its purposes, the obtaining of a financial or other material benefit from the commission by, or the facilitation of the commission by, any person (whether or not the person is a member of the group) of — (a) any serious scam offence; or (b) any act outside Singapore that, if the act occurred in Singapore, would constitute a serious scam offence; [Act 21 of 2025 wef 30/12/2025] “Part 2 offence” means — (a) any offence under section 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12; or (b) an abetment of, or a conspiracy or an attempt to commit, any offence mentioned in paragraph (a); “premises” includes any land, vehicle, vessel, aircraft or hovercraft; “property” means money and all other property, movable or immovable, including things in action and other intangible or incorporeal property; “public body” means a body corporate established by a public Act for the purposes of a public function, but excludes a Town Council established under section 4 of the Town Councils Act 1988; [Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025] “serious offence” means any offence specified in Part 1 of the Schedule; [Act 21 of 2025 wef 30/12/2025] “serious scam offence” means any offence specified in Part 2 of the Schedule. [Act 21 of 2025 wef 30/12/2025] (2) For the purposes of this Act, a person (A) facilitates the commission of an offence by any other person so long as A facilitates any conduct which A knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe, may amount to the offence, whether or not A knows — (a) the particular offence being facilitated; (b) the exact details of the offence being facilitated; or (c) that an offence was actually committed. (3) For the purposes of this Act, a group of persons is capable of being an organised criminal group, whether or not — (a) any of the persons in the group are subordinates or employees of any other persons in the group; (b) only one or some of the persons in the group are involved in planning, organising or carrying out any serious offence in furtherance of the illegal purpose of the organised criminal group; or (c) the membership of the group changes from time to time. (4) In the following proceedings: (a) proceedings against any person for a Part 2 offence, or for any offence which is subject to the penalty under section 13; (b) any application for an OCPO or FRO, or a disqualification order, to be made against any person; (c) any application for an examination order to be made against any person under section 73; (d) any proceedings in relation to any application to be made against any person under Part 9, it is not necessary for the Public Prosecutor to prove that the person knew the identity of all or any of the persons who constitute the organised criminal group. Meaning of “item subject to legal privilege” 3.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, an item is subject to legal privilege if — (a) it is a communication made between a lawyer and a client, or a legal counsel acting as such and his or her employer, in connection with the lawyer giving legal advice to the client or the legal counsel giving legal advice to the employer, as the case may be; (b) it is a communication made between 2 or more lawyers acting for a client, or 2 or more legal counsel acting as such for their employer, in connection with one or more of the lawyers giving legal advice to the client or one or more of the legal counsel giving legal advice to the employer, as the case may be; (c) it is a communication made — (i) between a client, or an employer of a legal counsel, and another person; (ii) between a lawyer acting for a client and either the client or another person; or (iii) between a legal counsel acting as such for his or her employer and either the employer or another person, in connection with, and for the purposes of, any legal proceedings (including anticipated or pending legal proceedings) in which the client or employer (as the case may be) is or may be, or was or might have been, a party; (d) it is an item, or a document (including its contents), that is enclosed with or referred to in any communication in paragraph (a) or (b) and that is made or prepared by any person in connection with a lawyer or legal counsel, or one or more of the lawyers or legal counsel, in either paragraph giving legal advice to the client or the employer of the legal counsel, as the case may be; or (e) it is an item, or a document (including its contents), that is enclosed with or referred to in any communication in paragraph (c) and that is made or prepared by any person in connection with, and for the purposes of, any legal proceedings (including anticipated or pending legal proceedings) in which the client or the employer of the legal counsel (as the case may be) is or may be, or was or might have been, a party, but it is not any such communication, item or document that is made, prepared or held with the intention of furthering a criminal purpose. (2) In this section — “client”, in relation to a lawyer, includes an agent of or other person representing a client and, if a client has died, a personal representative of the client; “employer”, in relation to a legal counsel, includes — (a) if the employer is one of a number of corporations that are related to each other under section 6 of the Companies Act 1967, every corporation so related as if the legal counsel is also employed by each of the related corporations; (b) if the employer is a public agency within the meaning of section 128A(6) of the Evidence Act 1893 and the legal counsel is required as part of his or her duties of employment or appointment to provide legal advice or assistance in connection with the application of the law or any form of resolution of legal dispute to any other public agency or agencies, the other public agency or agencies as if the legal counsel is also employed by the other public agency or each of the other public agencies; and (c) an employee or officer of the employer; “lawyer” means an advocate and solicitor, and includes an interpreter or other person who works under the supervision of an advocate and solicitor; “legal counsel” means a legal counsel as defined in section 3(7) of the Evidence Act 1893, and includes an interpreter or other person who works under the supervision of a legal counsel. Purpose of Act 4. The purpose of this Act is to deal with organised crime with the object of — (a) punishing persons who are involved in the activities of organised criminal groups; (b) preventing, restricting and disrupting the activities of organised criminal groups and persons who are involved in such groups; (c) protecting members of the public from the harm caused, or likely to be caused, by such groups; (d) empowering a court to make various orders in order to prevent, restrict or disrupt the involvement of persons associated with such groups; and (e) establishing a regime for the confiscation of benefits from organised crime activities.