CATEGORY: NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS, PRESS RELEASES
Singapore, 14 December 2021 – The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) has suspended the registration of Registered Qualified Individual (RQI), R Shanmugaratam of Citadelle Corporate Services Pte Ltd, for 12 months from 11 December 2021 to 10 December 2022, for providing false information in an annual return filed with ACRA.
2 ACRA had investigated Shanmugaratam in connection with the annual return filed for YO54 Holdings Pte Ltd (YO54) on 27 February 2018. In the annual return, Shanmugaratam declared that he had verified with the director of YO54 that the company qualified as a small and dormant company under the Companies Act for Year of Assessment 2017. However, Shanmugaratam had in fact not verified this with the director.
3 An RQI is an individual who provides corporate secretarial services for business entities and transacts with ACRA on behalf of his/her clients. The services provided by RQIs include helping clients to file annual returns and/or fulfil the requirements under the Companies Act or other Acts under ACRA’s purview. RQIs must be registered with ACRA and fulfil general requirements such as being a fit and proper person before providing corporate secretarial services.
Obligations of RQIs
4 RQIs must ensure that filings with ACRA are carried out in accordance with instructions from their clients, and that the filings are true and accurate. RQIs found to have breached their obligations could face financial penalties of up to $10,000 per breach and/or have their registration suspended or cancelled. The names of RQIs whose registration have been suspended or cancelled are published on the ACRA website and BizFile+, the ACRA online business filing and information portal.
5 Anyone who has reason to believe that an RQI is suspected to have breached his/her regulatory obligations should report the matter to ACRA at ED_Investigations@acra.gov.sg.
ACCOUNTING AND CORPORATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY
14 Dec 2021
