Former Singapore transport minister Iswaran pleads guilty after charges amended

SINGAPORE: Former Singapore transport minister S Iswaran pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Sep 24) on what was expected to be the first day of his criminal trial, after saying for months he would be contesting the case to clear his name.

The 62-year-old admitted to four charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code, which forbids all public servants from obtaining any valuable thing from someone involved with them in an official capacity, and one charge of obstruction of justice.

Another 30 charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing.

The valuables involved in all the charges include tickets to theatre shows, football matches and the Singapore F1 Grand Prix, whisky, international flights and a hotel stay. The amount involved is more than S$400,000 (over US$300,000).

The hearing started promptly at 10am, with the prosecution tendering a fresh set of charges.

Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong said the prosecution would replace two corruption charges with two lesser charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code.

Iswaran's defence lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, then confirmed that his client would be pleading guilty.

"My client will be taking a certain course of action in view of the fact that the prosecution is no longer proceeding on charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act," Mr Singh told the court, presided over by Justice Vincent Hoong.

After the charges were read to him, Iswaran was asked how he pleaded to them.

"Your Honour, I plead guilty," he said.

Iswaran made a disgorgement of S$380,305.95 (US$294,845) to the state on Monday, Mr Tai told the court. Bottles of whisky and wine, golf clubs and a Brompton bicycle were also seized from him.

The prosecution is seeking six to seven months' imprisonment for Iswaran, while the defence is arguing for no more than eight weeks in prison, if the judge finds that a jail term is warranted.

CORRUPTION CHARGES AMENDED

Iswaran's charges relate to his interactions with property tycoon Ong Beng Seng and construction firm boss Lum Kok Seng. Both businessmen have not been charged.

The two amended charges involve Mr Ong, who was the majority shareholder of Singapore GP at the time.

In the first amended charge under Section 165, Iswaran is now charged with obtaining from Mr Ong, "for no consideration", 10 Green Room tickets (worth S$48,150), eight Twenty3 tickets (worth S$56,068) and 32 general admission tickets (worth S$41,216) for the 2022 Singapore F1 Grand Prix in September 2022.

In the second amended charge under Section 165, Iswaran is now charged with obtaining from Mr Ong, again "for no consideration", a private jet flight to Qatar (worth about S$10,410), a night's stay in Four Seasons Doha (worth about S$4,737), and a business class flight from Doha to Singapore (worth about S$5,700) in December 2022.

The amended charges also state that Iswaran knew that Mr Ong, through Singapore GP, was concerned with the performance of the facilitation agreement between Singapore GP and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) for the Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2022 to 2028, and this was connected with Iswaran's official functions as minister and chairman of the F1 Steering Committee.

The original charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act had stated that Iswaran "corruptly" obtained these gifts from Mr Ong, and did so in exchange for advancing Mr Ong's business interests.

According to Mr Tai, this was the first time since Singapore's independence that Section 165 of the Penal Code was used in a prosecution.

SINGAPORE F1 GRAND PRIX TICKETS

Mr Tai read out the statement of facts detailing Iswaran's interactions with Mr Ong and Mr Lum in the five proceeded charges.

At all times during the offences, Iswaran was a minister responsible for overseeing the Singapore F1 Grand Prix as a national project.

He was the chairman of the government's F1 Steering Committee from 2007 to 2023, except for a period from 2018 to 2021 when he was an adviser.

Mr Ong was the majority shareholder of Singapore GP.

Around 2017, deputy chairman of Singapore GP Colin Syn Wai Hung asked Iswaran how many tickets he required for the Singapore F1 Grand Prix that year.

This followed an earlier "standing instruction" from Mr Ong to allocate complimentary tickets to Iswaran, Mr Tai said.

Iswaran said that he needed 10 Green Room tickets, which cost more than S$4,200 each. Mr Syn got approval for the tickets from Singapore GP's contractual allocation of complimentary tickets, controlled by Mr Ong.

The tickets were delivered to Iswaran in September 2017, and he distributed them to family, friends and other people he knew. He did not pay for them nor declare them to the government.

Mr Tai said that Iswaran knew Mr Ong was involved in the facilitation agreement between Singapore GP and STB, and that this was connected to his function as minister and chairman of the F1 Steering Committee.

TRIP TO QATAR AND COVERING OF TRACKS

Two of the charges are related to a trip that Iswaran made to Qatar in 2022, with flights and hotels provided by Mr Ong.

Around Dec 6, 2022, Mr Ong asked Iswaran if he would like to join him for a trip to Qatar, adding that he would look after him, or in other words, take care of all expenses.

Iswaran took up the offer and applied for urgent personal leave to take the trip.

He left for Qatar on Dec 10, 2022, travelling on Ong's private jet, and checked into Four Seasons hotel in Doha. The next day, he flew back to Singapore on a business class flight paid for by Singapore GP on Mr Ong's instructions.

Iswaran did not pay for his flight to Doha or the hotel stay, and did not declare them to the government.

He paid Singapore GP for the return flight to Singapore around May 25, 2023, and this was related to his charge of obstruction of justice.

Around May 17, 2023, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) was investigating a separate matter relating to Mr Ong's associates when it came across the flight manifest of Mr Ong's private jet for the Dec 10, 2022 flight to Doha, which Iswaran was on.

The next day, Mr Ong was informed by his associates that CPIB had seized the flight manifest and that CPIB had questioned them about the trip.

In the following days, Mr Ong informed Iswaran of this over the phone. They spoke again and Iswaran asked Mr Ong to bill him for the trip to Doha. Mr Ong asked a director in Singapore GP to do so.

On May 24, 2023, the director emailed Iswaran's personal assistant the invoice for the flight to Doha. The next day, Iswaran issued a cheque for S$5,700 to Singapore GP.

This act had the "tendency to obstruct the course of justice" as it made it less likely that Iswaran would be investigated by CPIB, and Iswaran knew this, said Mr Tai.

WHISKY, WINE AND A BICYCLE

The remaining charges related to Iswaran's dealings with Mr Lum, the director of Lum Chang Building Contractors and managing director of Lum Chang Holdings.

In 2016, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) awarded Lum Chang Building Contractors a S$325 million contract for works at Tanah Merah Station and existing viaducts.

In late 2021, Iswaran asked Mr Lum to help him source for whisky and red wine. On Nov 14, 2021, Iswaran sent a picture of a bottle of whisky to Mr Lum and asked him to check with his regular supplier on it. Mr Lum said he would check and get back to him.

On Jan 7, 2022, Mr Lum informed Iswaran that he had bought two bottles of the whisky in the picture, and would send it to him with a batch of red wine. Iswaran acknowledged this and thanked him.

That month, Mr Lum arranged to have two bottles of whisky and 12 bottles of wine delivered to Iswaran, who did not pay for them nor declare them to the government.

At the time, Iswaran knew that Mr Lum was involved in the contract between Lum Chang Building Contractors and LTA, which was connected to his official function as transport minister.

In June 2022, Mr Lum also bought a Brompton T-Line bicycle worth S$7,908 for Iswaran as a present for his 60th birthday, which the then minister did not declare as well.

Addressing the court later, the deputy attorney-general said there had been news reports of political office-holders in other countries like the United Kingdom accepting gifts, and this seemed to be "common practice" overseas.

However, the approach in Singapore was different and the receipt of such gifts was not acceptable, said Mr Tai.

The earliest of Iswaran's charges dates back to November 2015, when he was minister for trade and industry. He was transport minister and minister-in-charge of trade relations when the corruption probe against him became public in July 2023.

Iswaran resigned from his government positions and the People's Action Party in January, after being notified of the criminal charges against him.

The prosecution is led by Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong, with Chief Prosecutor Tan Kiat Pheng, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Christopher Ong, and Deputy Public Prosecutors Kelvin Chong, Sarah Siaw and Eugene Phua.

Iswaran is being defended by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, Mr Navin Thevar, Mr Rajvinder Singh, Ms Sumedha Madhusudhanan and Ms Sheiffa Safi Shirbeeni of Davinder Singh Chambers.

Previously, Mr Singh had described Mr Ong and Mr Lum as "very, very dear and close friends" of Iswaran, and said his client did not know nor suspect that gifts from them were "veiled gratification".

In the months before, the defence clashed with the prosecution when it first sought a joint trial of all Iswaran's charges – as opposed to two separate trials – and then tried to obtain all witness statements from the prosecution.

Iswaran succeeded in having his case heard in a single trial, but failed in multiple attempts to get the prosecution to hand over all forms of statements, including draft statements, from the witnesses it intends to call.

Iswaran faces a maximum jail term of seven years for obstructing justice under Section 204A of the Penal Code.

He faces a maximum jail term of two years for obtaining a valuable thing as a public servant under Section 165 of the Penal Code. He can also be fined for the offences.