Iswaran corruption charges amended as ex-minister, Ong Beng Seng would have ‘interest in denying’ corruption: AGC

SINGAPORE: The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) on Tuesday (Sep 24) cited possible difficulties in proving corruption charges against former transport minister S Iswaran, given that the two parties involved – Iswaran and property tycoon Ong Beng Seng – would essentially be implicating themselves to prove that corruption did take place.
Earlier in the day, Iswaran pleaded guilty 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.
Two corruption charges, linked to gifts from Mr Ong, were officially amended at the last minute to charges under Section 165.
Offences under Section 165 carry lower maximum penalties of two years’ jail, compared to seven years for corruption.
“In deciding whether to amend the charges, AGC considered the litigation risks involved in proving the PCA (Prevention of Corruption Act) charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, given that there are two primary parties to the transactions, and both would have an interest in denying corruption in the transactions,” said an AGC spokesperson.
“AGC also considered whether the amendment would lead to a fair and just outcome that is in line with the public interest.”
Both of Iswaran’s original two corruption charges, from January this year, named Mr Ong as the other party.
Despite being named in almost all the charges Iswaran faced, Mr Ong himself has, to date, not been prosecuted. The AGC said in January that it would decide on Mr Ong’s fate after the Iswaran case had been completed. 
On Tuesday, the AGC gave an update on this and said it would take a decision on Mr Ong “soon”.
Iswaran’s two amended charges involve Mr Ong, who was the majority shareholder of Singapore GP at the time.
For the first amended charge under Section 165, Iswaran was 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 was 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, which was connected with Iswaran’s official functions as minister and chairman of the F1 Steering Committee.
The original charges had stated that Iswaran “corruptly” obtained the gifts from Mr Ong, and did so in exchange for advancing the latter’s business interests.
Once the corruption charges were amended on Tuesday, Iswaran decided to plead guilty. 
Iswaran’s lead lawyer Davinder Singh said Iswaran’s decision to contest the case was centred around the original corruption charges, and that once those were amended, he found that it would be “the right thing to do to accept that what he did was wrong under Section 165”.
Mr Singh argued that no more than eight weeks’ jail should be imposed, while Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong sought six to seven months’ jail.
Iswaran’s sentencing was adjourned to Oct 3.