Iswaran convicted of 5 charges: Key moments from inside the courtroom

SINGAPORE – Former transport minister S. Iswaran was

convicted of five charges

on what was to have been the first day of his trial.

He pleaded guilty to four charges of obtaining, as a public servant, valuable items from Formula One (F1) race promoter Singapore GP’s chairman,

Mr Ong Beng Seng

, and 

Mr David Lum

, managing director of mainboard-listed construction company Lum Chang Holdings.

Iswaran, 62, also admitted to one charge of obstructing the course of justice. He had repaid more than $5,000 to Singapore GP for the cost of his business-class flight from Doha to Singapore that he took on Dec 11, 2022, at Mr Ong’s expense through the company.

Here are the key moments from the courtroom on Sept 24.

Iswaran decides to plead guilty

More than eight months

after he was first charged,

Iswaran arrived in court close to 9.30am.

He faced a total of 35 charges, including two for corruption, one for performing an act that could likely obstruct the course of justice, and the remaining 32

under Section 165 of the Penal Code

.

Section 165 makes it an offence for a public servant to accept or obtain anything of value, for free or for inadequate payment, from any person with whom he is involved in an official capacity.

Iswaran was accused of obtaining items worth more than $400,000 from Mr Ong and Mr Lum. The items included tickets to F1 races, football matches, bottles of whisky and a Brompton bicycle.

At the start of proceedings, the prosecution amended the two corruption charges to charges under Section 165.

Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong said the prosecution would proceed with four charges under Section 165 and one count of obstructing the course of justice, with the remaining 30 charges taken into consideration.

Iswaran’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, said his client would take a “certain course of action”, after the prosecution decided not to proceed with the corruption charges.

The former minister pleaded guilty and was convicted of the five charges.

More than $380,000 paid back; items to be forfeited to the state

The court learnt that Iswaran has fully paid back the financial gains from all his offences under Section 165, which amounted to $380,305.95.

The amount excludes the costs of the items that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) seized from Iswaran during the investigations, which will be forfeited to the state, as well as the Doha-Singapore flight he already made payment of $5,700 for.

The items – which are worth $17,291.97 – seized from Iswaran by the CPIB are:

Prosecution seeks six to seven months’ jail

The prosecution asked for a total of six to seven months of jail time for Iswaran’s five charges.

Mr Tai said the facts showed that Iswaran was “more than a passive acceptor” of the gifts in question, while highlighting Iswaran’s significant business relationships with Mr Ong and Mr Lum. He added that not punishing such acts would send a signal that these acts can be tolerated.

The key sentencing factors he pointed out include Iswaran’s position as a minister, which is the highest level of executive office in the Singapore Government.

“The more senior the position of the public servant in question, the more serious the offence,” he said.

Iswaran’s acts had a significant impact on the Government’s reputation, and by the time of his resignation, he had been a minister for 12 years, Mr Tai said.

“The fact that he was a minister of such seniority and standing would have amplified the effect of the accused’s behaviour,” he said, adding that Iswaran did not declare any of the gifts he obtained for himself, some of which he distributed to friends.

Defence argues for jail term of not more than eight weeks

Mr Singh argued for Iswaran to be sentenced to no more than one to five weeks’ jail for each of the charges, and no more than eight weeks’ jail in all.

Iswaran has always maintained that the Prevention of Corruption Act charges against him are “baseless”, Mr Singh said.

He also said that the items were given in the context of Iswaran’s friendship with Mr Ong and Mr Lum.

Iswaran accepted the F1 Green Room tickets for the purpose of distributing them to others for F1. The unused tickets were returned, Mr Singh added.

Iswaran was unaware of the law under Section 165 at the time, but understands that ignorance of the law is no excuse, he said.

Mr Singh said it cannot be logical that Iswaran’s acts have had significant impact on the reputation of the Government by dint of his being a minister.

The public learnt of the gifts only at the time that Iswaran was charged, and by charging its own minister, the Government was sending the strongest signal that it was upholding its longstanding commitment to integrity, he added.

“It was never about the money, or greed of money,” Mr Singh said.

Heated exchange over amended charges

In Mr Singh’s remarks during mitigation, he said Iswaran had not corruptly obtained any of the gifts he received from Mr Ong and Mr Lum.

“Though he pleads guilty to the five charges, he has not compromised the Government’s position, and the Government’s standing and reputation has not been undermined... the charges speak for themselves,” he said.

Mr Tai subsequently rose to clarify that “there is no acquittal” for the corruption charges.

“We did not withdraw the charges, they were amended,” he said, adding that the court did not find there was no corruption, and that the prosecution had good basis for bringing the corruption charges.

Justice Vincent Hoong said it is “pointless” to argue over what prompted the amended charges, and that it would not be relevant in the sentencing.

The exchange between the prosecution and defence on this matter went on for about 15 minutes, and became heated at some points.

Iswaran to be sentenced on Oct 3

After hearing sentencing submissions from both the prosecution and defence, Justice Vincent Hoong said he would give his decision on the sentence at 10am on Oct 3.

Iswaran had his bail extended.