Singapore amend terrorism bill to protect financing

Singapore's Parliament today passed an amendment to impose stiffer financial penalties on those who fund terrorists and to protect the integrity of the banking system of one of Asia's major financial centre.
Given Singapore's status as a major financial centre in Asia-Pacific, it was important to protect the integrity of the banking system and prevent it from abuse by those seeking to fund terrorist activity, said second minister for Home Affairs, S Iswaran in the parliament.
The Bill enhances the penalties for terrorism financing offences after the changes.
The penalty is raised from Singapore dollars 100,000 to 500,000 for individuals, and to 1 million Singapore dollars for entities.

A new section is introduced in the bill which would make it an offence to disclose information likely to prejudice an investigation of a terrorism financing offence under the Act, reported the Channel News Asia.
"To prevent a terrorist attack on Singapore, we have adopted a holistic strategy that not only seeks to harden Singapore against attacks through robust security measures, but also emphasises upstream preventive measures", minister said.
"The proposed amendments will boost our fight against terrorism by strengthening our counter terrorism financing regime and supporting our terrorist rehabilitation efforts", the minister said.
Terrorism is an international threat supported by a global network of terrorism financing operations. This requires close international coordination, supported by international bodies, he added.