Allowing fugitives to give consent to extradition among proposed changes to Extradition Act

SINGAPORE — The Government on Monday (March 7) proposed changes to extradition laws to include a provision to allow a fugitive to consent to his extradition and waive the proceedings.

But a magistrate, who may issue a warrant to arrest the fugitive, must ascertain that the consent is voluntary and inform the fugitive of the consequences of giving this consent.

This will help save state resources and prevent the fugitive from being detained longer than necessary in Singapore, the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) said in a media release.

The proposed amendment to the Extradition Act, which governs all extradition requests, introduced in Parliament on Monday will update and modernise Singapore’s extradition regime and align it with other leading legal systems, said the ministry.

Under the Act, Singapore can extradite fugitives to Commonwealth territories, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, or foreign states with which Singapore has an extradition treaty in force.

MinLaw said that in the last decade, four cases have been extradited back to Singapore, while eight cases have been extradited to the requesting state.  

An example of a successful extradition is that of Standard Chartered Bank robber David James Roach, who was sentenced to five years' jail and six strokes of the cane for robbing the bank of more than S$30,000 in 2016.

The Canadian fled Singapore for Thailand, where he was detained and deported to Canada in 2018 but was held by British police while in transit after Singapore put in an arrest request.

Roach was spared the cane because the Singapore Government, in order to secure his extradition, had assured Britain that any corporal sentence on Roach would not be carried out.

KEY CHANGES

Among the key changes will be how the Government determines whether an offence is extraditable.

The Government currently refers to a list of extraditable offences when considering whether a fugitive can be surrendered to a requesting state.

If the draft laws are passed, it will also set out a list of offences that have been excluded from the scope of the Act, which is usually regulatory in nature. One example of such offences is the producing of false evidence, said MinLaw.

For a fugitive to be extraditable, the offence must attract a maximum punishment of more than two years’ jail and is not on the list of excluded offences.

The proposed law will also expand the conditions on which Singapore will not surrender a fugitive.

These include situations where the fugitive was convicted in his absence, unless he deliberately made himself absent, and where the fugitive will not be successfully prosecuted in the requesting state when returned.

The fugitive may also not be extradited if the remaining jail term he has to serve is less than six months, unless stated otherwise in an extradition treaty between Singapore and the requesting state.

This seeks to avoid a situation where the extradition process may take longer than the fugitive’s remaining imprisonment term, said MinLaw.

The Bill, if passed, will also allow a summary of the evidence, perhaps written by an investigation officer, to be used for extradition proceedings.

But this summary must still be certified by a judge or prosecuting authority and is only allowed if Singapore has a treaty or extradition arrangement with the requesting state, said MinLaw.

In considering whether a fugitive should be allowed to be extradited, the court must consider whether there is sufficient evidence that warrants the extradition of the fugitive. 

Currently, this evidence is presented through affidavits — signed statements typically from those involved in the crime or the investigation of the crime — which can often be very detailed and lengthy.

Singapore now has extradition arrangements with countries such as Brunei, Malaysia and the United Kingdom, among others.

In January, it concluded agreements with Indonesia on a treaty for the extradition of fugitives, which allows both countries to grant extradition for a comprehensive list of offences.

This is provided the extradition is in accordance with the laws of both countries and is subject to the requisite safeguards and provisions stated in the treaty. The extradition treaty does not have an expiry date.