Singapore charges billionaire in gifts scandal involving ex-transport minister

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Singapore has charged billionaire property tycoon Ong Beng Seng with abetting a minister as part of a corruption scandal that has tainted the city-state’s reputation for clean governance.

Ong, 78, was charged with two offences of abetting former transport minister S Iswaran to obtain gifts and obstruct justice, the Attorney-General’s Chambers said on Friday. Ong did not enter a plea, local media reported.

The indictment against Ong comes one day after Iswaran was sentenced to a one-year jail term for accepting gifts valued at more than $300,000 and obstructing justice. He became the first Singaporean minister to be imprisoned in nearly 50 years.

Iswaran was accused of accepting gifts from Ong, who owns the rights to the Singapore Grand Prix, at a time when he had official dealings with the tycoon. As transport minister, Iswaran was the most senior government official negotiating with Ong’s company on matters related to the Formula One race in Singapore.

Iswaran pleaded guilty last month to five charges, including four counts of obtaining valuable items and one of obstruction of justice. He resigned as transport minister earlier this year after he was formally charged.

The charges against Ong correspond to two of the charges to which Iswaran pleaded guilty, the AGC said.

Iswaran had initially faced 35 charges, though prosecutors proceeded with only five at the start of the trial. Most of the charges related to gifts from Ong, including tickets to English Premier League football matches, the Singapore F1 race, and plays including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hamilton and Kinky Boots as well as a business-class flight from Doha to Singapore in 2022.

Ong, a Malaysian citizen, was first arrested in July 2023 and released on bail. He is the majority owner of Singapore GP Pte, the promoter for the F1 race in Singapore. He is also the founder of Hotel Properties, which has brands including the Four Seasons and InterContinental in its property portfolio.

The Ong family also has a majority stake in the British luxury handbag maker Mulberry.

Iswaran was also charged with receiving gifts, including whisky and a Brompton T Line bicycle, from another businessman, Lum Kok Seng. Lum is the managing director of Lum Chang Holdings, a construction firm. He will not be charged, the AGC said on Friday.

A lawyer for Ong declined to comment.

The scandal has come at a sensitive time for Singapore, which prides itself on its reputation for clean governance and transparency. Ministers in the Asian financial hub are among the highest paid in the world, earning about S$1mn (US$771,000) a year in part to discourage corruption.

Singapore is set to hold elections next year, the first under new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who took office in May. The ruling People’s Action party — which has governed the city-state since independence in 1965 — is expected to win, but its reputation has taken a hit from a series of scandals, including the corruption allegations against Iswaran.

In a statement following Iswaran’s sentencing this week, Wong said he and his team would uphold the highest standards of integrity. “Our system ensures that our public officers are accountable, and no one is beyond scrutiny or above the law,” he said.