SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng is scheduled to plead guilty on Aug 4 to offences in a case linked to former transport minister S. Iswaran.
This comes after a pre-trial conference on July 28 before District Judge Lee Lit Cheng. Ong is currently out on S$800,000 bail.
Ong, 79, was first set to plead guilty on April 2, but this was postponed after his lawyers asked for an extension to obtain his medical reports.
The Singapore-based Malaysian businessman was then slated to plead guilty on July 3, but this was rescheduled one day before the hearing as the prosecution and defence needed more time to file further submissions on sentencing.
The case then went through several pre-trial conferences.
The billionaire was charged on Oct 4, 2024, with allegedly abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts and abetting the obstruction of justice.
According to court documents, Ong had in December 2022 allegedly arranged for Mr Iswaran to fly on his private plane from Singapore to Doha. The flight was valued at US$7,700 (S$10,400).
The businessman also allegedly arranged for Iswaran a one-night stay at Four Seasons Hotel Doha, valued at S$4,737.63, and a business-class flight from Doha to Singapore, valued at S$5,700.
Court documents showed Ong allegedly told 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 abetment of obstruction of justice.
Hotel Properties Limited, where Ong was managing director, said in an announcement on the Singapore Exchange in February that he intends to plead guilty to the obstruction charge and consents to having the other charge taken into consideration for sentencing.
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 that first night race.
Iswaran was handed a 12-month jail term on Oct 3, 2024, for, among other things, accepting a number of valuable items from Ong. - The Straits Times/ANN
