SINGAPORE: Billionaire Ong Beng Seng, who is facing two charges in a case linked to former transport minister S. Iswaran, will be pleading guilty on July 3.
The date was set after his pre-trial conference on Tuesday (June 10).
The 79-year-old was previously scheduled to plead guilty on April 2, but the case was adjourned after his lawyers asked for more time to obtain his medical reports.
The property tycoon was charged on Oct 4, 2024, with abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts and with abetting the obstruction of justice.
Under Section 165, it is an offence for a public servant to accept anything of value from any person with whom he is involved in an official capacity without payment or with inadequate payment.
According to court documents, the businessman had in December 2022 allegedly arranged for Iswaran fo fly on Ong’s private plane from Singapore to Doha.
The flight was valued at US$7,700 (S$10,400).
Ong is also said to have arranged for Iswaran a one-night stay at Four Seasons Hotel Doha, valued at $4,737.63, and a business class flight from Doha to Singapore, valued at $5,700.
Court documents showed that it was allegedly Ong who alerted Iswaran that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau had seized the flight manifest for the December 2022 trip.
It prompted Iswaran to ask the tycoon to bill him for the flight to avoid investigations.
For this alleged offence, Ong was charged with the abetment of obstruction of justice.
The businessman is known as the man who brought Formula One (F1) to Singapore in 2008 – the first night race in the sport’s history.
Iswaran was chairman of the F1 steering committee and the Government’s chief negotiator with Singapore GP on business matters related to the race.
The two men had worked in the mid-2000s to convince then Formula One Group chief executive Bernie Ecclestone to make Singapore the venue for the sport’s first night race.
On Oct 3, 2024, Iswaran was handed a 12-month jail term after he pleaded guilty to five charges, including obtaining valuable items as a public servant from Ong and David Lum Kok Seng, managing director of construction company Lum Chang Holdings.
Iswaran was placed on the Home Detention Scheme on Feb 7, 2025.
On June 6, the Singapore Prison Service said he completed his emplacement on the Home Detention Scheme and that he is no longer under prison custody. - The Straits Times/ANN
