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Attorney-General's Chambers

Mutual Legal Assistance

AGC is Singapore’s Central Authority and processes all formal requests for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

Last updated 23 December 2025

The AGC officers in the Crime Division handle and process all formal requests for assistance in accordance with the provisions of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act (the "Act") and any applicable Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).

Types of assistance

The types of mutual legal assistance that Singapore may provide in respect of criminal matters include the following:

  • taking of evidence for criminal proceedings

  • taking statements for criminal investigations

  • request for the attendance of a person in a foreign country to give evidence

  • request for custody of persons in transit

  • enforcement of a foreign confiscation order

  • search and seizure

  • locating or identifying persons

  • service of process

Prescribed foreign countries

Countries with which Singapore has an existing MLAT are gazetted as “prescribed foreign countries” under the Act. Such countries may be rendered assistance in accordance with the terms of the Act and relevant MLAT.

Other countries may receive assistance if there is an undertaking of reciprocity in accordance with section 16(2) of the Act. This undertaking of reciprocity should provide that the requesting country will comply with a future request by Singapore for similar assistance in a criminal matter involving an offence that corresponds to the foreign offence for which assistance is sought.

Form for requests

Requests for assistance may be made using the sample forms below:

Checklists and certificates

Countries may use the following checklists for a preliminary assessment of whether the mutual legal assistance request meets the legal requirements under the Act. Countries may wish to note that mutual legal assistance requests that meet all the legal requirements tend to be processed more expeditiously.

For requests pertaining to the taking of evidence and obtaining of production orders, countries would also have to provide corresponding foreign law immunity certificates. A foreign law immunity certificate is meant to certify that a person in the requesting country could be compelled to produce the thing sought in the mutual legal assistance request under the laws of the requesting country. Countries may adopt the following template for the foreign law immunity certificate.

Practitioners’ Guide to Asset Recovery in Singapore

The Practitioners’ Guide to Asset Recovery in Singapore is a publication which seeks to guide requesting countries when drafting mutual legal assistance requests to Singapore in asset recovery matters. It includes the following information:

  • an explanation of the asset recovery regime in Singapore

  • the types of assistance that may be rendered

  • guidance on the technical requirements and procedural aspects of making mutual legal assistance requests

  • contact information of the various departments involved in the asset recovery process

  • various template forms that requesting countries can adopt

Download the electronic copy of The Practitioners’ Guide for Asset Recovery in Singapore [PDF, 1.5 MB]

Transmission of requests

Completed requests may be sent by the Central Authority of the country making the request to the following address:

Chief Prosecutor
Crime Division
The Attorney-General’s Chambers
1 Upper Pickering Street
Singapore 058288

In cases of urgent requests, a copy of the request may also be sent by email to AGC_CentralAuthority@agc.gov.sg. However, the original request should still be sent to the above address.

Countries with which Singapore has an MLAT should also comply with any relevant provisions of the MLAT with regard to the transmission of requests.

Queries in relation to mutual legal assistance

Queries in relation to mutual legal assistance may be sent to the correspondence address, or sent by email to AGC_CentralAuthority@agc.gov.sg.