Police Bail

Today, we’re talking about bail.

A person can be released on bail in 2 situations: when he is charged or involved in an investigation for a bailable or non-bailable offence.

• For a bailable offence, the person is entitled to bail as a right.
• However, for a non-bailable offence the person can only be released on bail if the court decides to do so.

The main purpose of bail is to ensure that the suspect or the accused person involved in the court proceedings attend court or attends before the investigators as he’s required. This would also mean that the main responsibility of the bailor or accused person is to ensure that the suspect or accused person does attend court whenever he is required to do so.

One of the main conditions of bail is that the suspect or the accused person being granted bail is not allowed to leave Singapore without either permission of the court or the permission of the investigator. If he does this without getting permission first, a warrant of arrest may be issued against him, and he will be arrested by the authorities. And if this happens, the bail may be revoked, and the bailor will then have to attend court to give reasons why the bail amount and monies should not be forfeited.

What does it take to be a bailor?

• A bailor has to be at least 21 years old, and
• He must not have any ongoing or outstanding criminal matters against him.
• A person is also not allowed to be a bailor if he is an undischarged bankrupt, and
• He must be able to provide the amount of bail monies that is provided.
• Although strictly speaking, a bailor doesn’t have to be a Singaporean or a Permanent Resident, this is a very common condition placed on the bailor by the court.

Bail monies can be provided in 2 forms:

1. If the bail amount is up to $15,000 SGD, the bailor is able to give a declaration to the court or to the investigators to say that he has assets of up to this amount in terms of either jewellery or other valuable items
2. If the bail amount exceeds $15,000 SGD, then the bail monies has to be provided in cash and this can be then given in a few other forms. For example, in the form of a cashier’s order or by showing to the bail centre or the authorities that this amount exists in a personal bank account. The purpose of showing that the amount exists in the personal saving account is so that the authorities can then freeze this amount for the purpose of bail and only release it when the bail bond has been discharged.

So, there you have it, some simple information on bail. Thanks for watching. See you again soon. Bye-bye!