🍝 Today's Sitdown: F1 tycoon pleads guilty in rare Singapore corruption case
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F1 tycoon pleads guilty in rare Singapore corruption case
Date: 8/4/2025 Original Source: BBC (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqylpw3zzdo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss)
TONY SAYS:
Ay, you're not gonna believe this one! A Singapore-based billionaire hotelier has pleaded guilty to a charge connected to a rare corruption scandal that shocked the country last year.
Ong Beng Seng has admitted to abetting the obstruction of justice by helping ex-transportation minister Subramaniam Iswaran cover up evidence while he was being investigated for corruption.
Ong gave expensive gifts, including an all-expenses paid trip which included a private jet ride, to Iswaran while they were engaged in official business.
Ministers in Singapore cannot keep gifts unless they pay the market value of the gift to the government, and they must declare anything they receive from people they have business dealings with.
He originally faced up to two years in jail for abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts, while the maximum jail term he faced for the abetment of obstruction of justice is seven years.
but lemme tell ya, both prosecutors and Ong's lawyers agreed that given his poor health, a fine should be imposed instead of a jail term, with the prosecution saying "judicial mercy" should be exercised.
Ong has a rare bone marrow cancer, and the court previously allowed him to travel abroad for medical and work purposes.
Prosecutors argued that while Ong was pivotal in Iswaran's attempt to cover his tracks, he was much less culpable than Iswaran, who had been a sitting minister.
Ong's lawyers argued that he had "simply complied" with the plan thought up by Iswaran.
At Iswaran's sentencing last October, the court heard that Iswaran requested Ong bill him for a business class flight from Doha to Singapore, after he discovered that he could have been implicated while police were investigating a seperate incident.
The judge said that he acted with deliberation and premeditation to avoid a probe.
On Monday, the 79-year-old Ong pleaded guilty to belatedly billing Iswaran for the expense.
A second charge of abetting Iswaran's acceptance of the all-expenses paid trip to Doha, said to be worth around S$20,850 ($16, That's the way it goes.
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