Singapore minister charged with corruption over kickbacks from tycoon

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Singapore’s transport minister has been charged with corruption and has resigned, in a rare graft accusation in the city-state that prides itself on its reputation for clean governance and transparency. 

S Iswaran faces 27 charges including graft, obstruction of justice and obtaining “valuable things” from a prominent real estate tycoon, the country’s corruption watchdog said in a statement on Thursday. 

Iswaran has denied wrongdoing. He faces a penalty of up to S$100,000 and seven years in prison if found guilty of corruption.

The charges allege he received kickbacks totalling more than S$384,000 (US$285,770) in value between 2015 and 2022, according to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

“I reject the allegations in the charges and will now focus on clearing my name,” Iswaran said in a resignation letter made public by the office of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday. Iswaran added that he would return his salary and allowances received since the beginning of the investigation in July last year.

Lee said the government would continue to deal with the case “rigorously”. 

“I am determined to uphold the integrity of the party and the government, and our reputation for honesty and incorruptibility,” Lee said, referring to the ruling People’s Action party, of which Iswaran was also a member until his resignation this week. “Singaporeans expect no less.”

The charges came about six months after the anti-graft agency arrested Iswaran and Ong Beng Seng, one of the city-state’s most high-profile property tycoons. Both were released on bail. 

The corruption watchdog said Iswaran received some of the alleged bribes for “advancing Ong’s business interests” in a contract between his company Singapore GP Pte and the Singapore Tourism Board, a government agency. 

According to a charge sheet seen by the Financial Times, the kickbacks allegedly included tickets to English Premier League football matches, Formula One races and plays including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hamilton and Kinky Boots, as well as a business class flight from Doha to Singapore in 2022.

Iswaran, who previously served as Singapore’s minister of communications and of trade and industry, was instrumental in bringing the Formula One Grand Prix to Singapore in partnership with Ong in 2007.  

Ong has not been charged. He is the founder of Hotel Properties, which has brands such as the Four Seasons and Intercontinental in its property portfolio. The company has previously said that Ong was providing details of his dealings with Iswaran to the watchdog.

Singapore GP Pte declined to comment. The Singapore Tourism Board did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ong declined to comment.

The corruption case comes amid mounting scandals for the ruling party, which faces a crucial leadership transition this year.

Prime Minister Lee is set to hand over power to his deputy Lawrence Wong as soon as November, in what will only be the fourth change of leadership in Singapore’s history. In 2025, the country will go to the polls in a race that PAP, which has ruled Singapore uninterrupted since independence in 1965, is again expected to win. 

Lee said last year that the graft accusations against Iswaran and Ong, along with the resignations of two senior PAP lawmakers over an “inappropriate relationship”, had hit the party’s reputation. 

Singapore’s ministers are among the highest paid in the world, earning about S$1mn a year, in part to discourage corruption. The last graft case in Singapore involving a minister was in 1986.