Singapore

The appellant was arrested in Singapore pursuant to a United States extradition request concerning alleged computer fraud, wire fraud and money laundering offences, and electronic devices, storage media and bank cards were seized during the arrest. The appellant challenged the seizure and later sought judicial review of the magistrate’s refusal to declare the items unlawfully seized. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that the magistrate lacked supervisory jurisdiction to determine the legality of the police seizure, that criminal revision should have been exhausted before judicial review was pursued, and that no arguable case for quashing the magistrate’s decision had been established. The Court further held that, under the Extradition Act, authorised officers may ordinarily rely on credible information supplied by the requesting State without conducting an independent investigation, unless that information is patently wrong or the property plainly has no connection with the alleged offences.