Former Singapore minister S Iswaran sentenced to 12 months’ jail for obtaining valuables worth S$403,300, obstructing justice

THE CASE

Between November 2015 and December 2022, Iswaran obtained valuables like musical, football and Formula 1 tickets from Singapore GP majority shareholder Ong Beng Seng, as well as bottles of whisky and wine from construction boss Lum Kok Seng.

This was while Iswaran held portfolios that had official dealings with the two men, said the prosecution.

Mr Lum’s company, Lum Chang Building Contractors, entered into a contract worth S$325 million with the Land Transport Authority in 2016 for works on the Tanah Merah MRT Station and its viaducts. Iswaran became transport minister in May 2021.

Mr Ong was linked to two facilitation agreements between the Singapore GP and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to handle the annual Singapore Formula 1 race.

Iswaran was chairman of the F1 Steering Committee, established by the government to oversee F1 as a national project.

He was also minister for industry in the Ministry of Trade and Industry from October 2015 and April 2018, with STB under him. He was also minister-in-charge of trade relations from May 2018 until January 2024 when he resigned from office.

The prosecution accepted, however, that Iswaran did not intervene in any decisions relating to Mr Lum’s company contract, and that there was “nothing to suggest that the F1 contracts were structured to the disadvantage of the government”.

The case came to light in May 2023 when CPIB was investigating a separate matter linked to Mr Ong’s associates and came across a flight manifest for an outbound flight on Mr Ong’s private jet.

Iswaran was on that flight worth S$10,410 from Singapore to Doha on Dec 10, 2022. His trip there, his one-night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel Doha and his business class flight back was at the expense of Singapore GP, on Mr Ong’s instructions.

Iswaran did not declare the trip to the government. He applied for urgent personal personal leave to take it on Mr Ong’s offer to join him as his guest.

When Mr Ong caught wind of CPIB’s seizure of the flight manifest, he called Iswaran and told him about this. Iswaran later asked Ong to have Singapore GP bill him for the trip’s expenses, and later paid S$5,700 for the return flight.

This forms the charge of obstructing justice.