PROPERTY tycoon, hotelier and Singapore GP head Ong Beng Seng is expected to be charged on Friday (Oct 4), according to court records, reported the Singaporean media.
He faces one charge under Section 165, where he is accused of abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts, and one charge of obstruction of justice.
Ong, a Malaysian was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on July 11, 2023, amid a graft probe that involved former Singapore transport minister S. Iswaran.
Court records also indicated that the property tycoon is out on S$800,000 (US$617,000) bail, reported Channel News Asia.
Ong, 78, made headlines recently because of his links to Iswaran.
Iswaran, who was sentenced to 12 months’ jail on Oct 3, had pleaded guilty to accepting several valuable items from Mr Ong, including an all-expense-paid trip to Doha.
Iswaran admitted to four charges under Section 165 and one charge of obstruction of justice.
According to The Straits Times, Court documents showed it was Mr Ong who alerted Iswaran that CPIB had seized the flight manifest for the trip in December 2022, prompting the former Cabinet minister to ask the tycoon to bill him for the flight to avoid investigations into the gifts.
This formed the basis of Iswaran’s obstruction of justice charge, which he pleaded guilty to on Sept 24.
The former minister was sentenced to a year's jail yesterday (Oct 3). - October 4, 2024
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