Labuan Offshores Trusts Act 1996 · Updated to 1 Dec 2011 · Part IV · Trustees of Labuan Trusts
41. Right to information
Official textFrom Laws of Malaysia Online, unchanged
A trustee shall, on receipt of a request, provide accurate information as to the state and amount of the trust property and the administration of the trust—
trustee
―trustee‖ means a person appointed to act as a trustee of a trust in accordance with the provisions of this Act;
to the Court;
to the settlor, the enforcer or the protector of the trust, unless the trustee has reason to believe that such person is making the request under duress; or
where the terms of the trust so authorize—
to any beneficiary having a vested interest in the trust; or
to the charity referred to by name in the trust instrument as a beneficiary under the trust.
Subject to the terms of the trust and to any order of the Court given on special and exceptional grounds, a trustee or other person
terms of the trust
―terms of the trust‖ means the written or oral terms of a trust or any other terms applicable under its proper law;
Labuan Trusts 51
shall not be required to disclose to any person not legally entitled to it under subsection (1) any document or information which discloses—
person
―person‖ includes a corporation, a partnership, a body of persons, corporate or unincorporated, and a corporation sole;
his deliberations as to how he should exercise or has exercised his functions as trustee;
the reasons for any decision made in the exercise of those functions;
any material upon which such a decision was or might have been based;
any part of the accounts of the trust; or
any letter of wishes given by the settlor or beneficiary.
Notwithstanding the terms of the trust—
the Court may, on application made to it, declare that in particular circumstances of the trust its terms do not render the trustee sufficiently or appropriately accountable to the beneficiaries or any of them; and
the Court may, pursuant to such declaration, extend or restrict the rights of all or any beneficiaries to information relating to the trust or may make such other order as it thinks fit.
Except as is required, permitted or otherwise provided by this
Act, or by the terms of the trust or as may be necessary for the purposes of the trust, and notwithstanding the provisions of any other law—
trust
―trust‖ includes the trust property and the rights, powers, duties, interests, relationships and obligations under a trust;
every trustee and every other person shall at all times regard and deal with all documents and information relating to a trust as secret and confidential;
no trustee or other person shall at any time be required to produce to or before any court, tribunal, board, committee of inquiry or any other authority or to divulge to any such authority any matter or thing coming to his notice or being in his possession for any reason, where such matter or thing relates to a trust.
52 Laws of Malaysia ACT 554
Any trustee or other person who, except as is required, permitted or otherwise provided by this Act, or by the terms of the trust or by the Court, at any time communicates or attempts to communicate any matter or thing relating to a trust to any person commits an offence.
Penalty: Imprisonment for five years or one million ringgit or both.
Terms defined in s 2
Authority
Defined · s 2―Authority‖ means the Labuan Financial Services Authority established under section 3 of the Labuan Financial Services Authority Act 1996;
beneficiary
Defined · s 2―beneficiary‖ means a person entitled to benefit under a trust or in whose favour a discretion to distribute property held in trust may be exercised;
Malaysia
Defined · s 2―Malaysia‖ means the territories of the Federation of Malaysia, the territorial waters of Malaysia and the sea-bed and subsoil of the Labuan Trusts 9 territorial waters, and includes any area extending beyond the limits of the territorial waters of Malaysia, and the sea-bed and subsoil of any such area, which has been or may hereafter be designated under the laws of Malaysia and in accordance with international law as an area over which Malaysia has sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting the natural resources, whether living or non-living;
person
Defined · s 2―person‖ includes a corporation, a partnership, a body of persons, corporate or unincorporated, and a corporation sole;
settlor
Defined · s 2―settlor‖ means a person who makes a trust and includes a person who provides trust property or makes a testamentary disposition on Labuan Trusts 11 trust or to a trust, but does not include a person who contributes to a unit trust;
terms of the trust
Defined · s 2―terms of the trust‖ means the written or oral terms of a trust or any other terms applicable under its proper law;
trust
Defined · s 2―trust‖ includes the trust property and the rights, powers, duties, interests, relationships and obligations under a trust;
trust instrument
Defined · s 2―trust instrument‖ means an instrument by which a trust is created and includes a unilateral declaration of trust and any instrument varying the terms of the trust;
trust property
Defined · s 2―trust property‖ means the property for the time being held on trust;
trustee
Defined · s 2―trustee‖ means a person appointed to act as a trustee of a trust in accordance with the provisions of this Act;
Part V