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Jean Iau

Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng was charged in court on Friday with abetting former Singapore transport minister S Iswaran’s offences.
Ong, widely credited for bringing Formula One grand prix racing to the city state, faces one charge of abetting a public servant to obtain valuable gifts and another of obstructing justice.
Iswaran was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment on Thursday for receiving more than S$400,000 (US$308,518) worth of items from Ong and businessman Lum Kok Seng and obstructing justice.
The court heard on Friday that in December 2022, Ong allegedly instigated Iswaran to obtain a Doha trip with him without consideration.
This involved arranging a flight on his private plane from Singapore to Doha valued at S$10,410, and through Singapore Grand Prix, arranging a one-night stay in Four Seasons Hotel in the Qatari capital worth S$4,737.63 and a business class ticket from the city to Singapore worth S$5,700.
Ong, 78, also owns the rights to the Singapore GP and Iswaran was chairman of the event’s steering committee.
The obstruction of justice charge accused Ong of aiding Iswaran to make payment of S$5,700 to Singapore GP for the air ticket from Doha to Singapore in May 2023.
Ong is said to have instructed a person identified as Mok Chee Liang to bill the cost of the ticket to Iswaran – such a move could be viewed as obstructing the course of justice.
Ong’s lawyer, Aaron Lee from Allen & Gledhill, asked the court to adjourn the case for six weeks to take instructions from his client and make representations.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Christopher Ong had no objections and Ong is scheduled to return to court on November 15.
Abetting a public servant to obtain a valuable gift without consideration carries a maximum jail term of up to two years, a fine, or both, while those convicted of obstructing justice can be jailed up to seven years, fined, or both.

The court heard in Iswaran’s case that Ong, who co-founded Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) and is its managing director, gave the politician gifts including tickets to the Singapore GP, Premier League tickets and an “an all-expenses paid trip” to Doha on the billionaire’s private jet.
Iswaran asked Ong to have Singapore GP bill him for the Doha tour when Ong learnt that the flight manifest had been seized by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). The 62-year-old issued a cheque for S$5,700 to Singapore GP in May 2023.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said the prosecution would not be charging Ong for his role in the other charges that Iswaran faced.
“In arriving at this decision, the prosecution considered all the relevant facts and circumstances of the case, including the role that Ong played in each of the transactions,” the AGC said in a statement on Friday.
It also said Lum would not be charged.
Iswaran initially faced corruption charges for offences related to Ong and maintained his innocence. However, he pleaded guilty when the charges were amended to lesser ones of accepting gifts as a public servant for no consideration. This offence does not require the prosecution to prove that he received the freebies corruptly in exchange for advancing the giver’s business interests.
The Malaysian tycoon was arrested in July 2023 by the CPIB in relation to the probe involving Iswaran and released on bail of S$800,000.
Ong’s Singapore-listed HPL, founded in 1980, has interests in luxury hospitality brands such as Four Seasons, COMO Hotels and Marriott International. Ong and his wife Christina Fu were ranked 24th richest in Singapore by Forbes in September 2022, with an estimated net worth of US$1.7 billion.
Iswaran and Ong are widely seen to be behind Singapore’s successful pitch in the mid-2000s to bring the F1 race to the city state.
HPL made headlines in relation to the island republic’s long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) in 1995, when its sale of discounted luxury properties to top politicians raised questions about official impropriety.
The people involved – the late independence leader Lee Kuan Yew and his son, then deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong – were cleared of wrongdoing by an independent investigation, but HPL was rapped for non-compliance with stock exchange rules.


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Malaysian property tycoon Ong Beng Seng arrives at the State Courts in Singapore on Friday. Photo: Reuters

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Singapore’s former transport minister S Iswaran leaves the Supreme Court in the city state on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

Tycoon Ong Beng Seng at the Singapore Grand Prix last month. Photo: Reuters

Kay Mary Taylor (right), wife of Iswaran, arrives at the Supreme Court on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

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Lee Hsien Yang, younger brother of Singapore’s former PM Lee Hsien Loong, leaves the Supreme Court at a hearing in 2017. Photo: AFP

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Billionaire Ong Beng Seng (left) and Singapore minister S Iswaran in 2007. Photo: EPA-EFE

Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng walks out of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau headquarters in Singapore on July 12. Photo: Lianhe Zaobao via Reuters

The Singapore night race is one of the highlights of the F1 calendar. Photo: AFP

Ong Beng Seng (second from left) with Singapore minister S Iswaran (centre) in 2007. Iswaran reportedly knew Ong from his previous career as a high-flying bureaucrat and top executive at Temasek Holdings. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Tycoon Ong Beng Seng and former Singapore transport minister S. Iswaran pictured in 2007. Iswaran is accused of accepting gifts from the businessman. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Ong faces one charge of abetting a public servant to obtain valuable gifts and another of obstructing justice


Ong faces one charge of abetting a public servant to obtain valuable gifts and another of obstructing justice.


Corruption in Asia

Millionaires and billionaires