Former Singapore Minister Jailed for Receiving Gifts From F1 Tycoon

Singapore's former transport minister Subramaniam Iswaran (C) arrives at the Supreme Court in Singapore on Sept. 24, 2024. Caroline Chia/Reuters

A former Singaporean government minister has been jailed for a year after pleading guilty to obstructing justice and receiving illegal gifts from two businessmen, one of whom owns the rights to the country’s Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Subramaniam Iswaran, 62, admitted to receiving gifts from Malaysian property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, who owned the rights to the Singapore Grand Prix while the minister was an adviser to the Formula 1 race’s steering committee.

A second businessman who gave gifts to Iswaran was Lum Kok Seng, whose construction firm won a lucrative contract to expand a train station in Tanah Merah, Singapore, which is due to be completed next year.

Iswaran admitted to one charge of obstructing justice and four counts of receiving gifts totalling 403,000 Singapore dollars ($311,000).

He is the first cabinet minister to be convicted of corruption in Singapore since Wee Toon Boon, who was jailed in 1975 for accepting gifts in exchange for helping a businessman. Another cabinet minister, Teh Cheang Wan, committed suicide while being investigated for graft in 1986.

Channel News Asia reported that Justice Vincent Hoong said in his ruling that holders of high office “must be expected to avoid any perception that they are susceptible to influence by pecuniary benefits.”

The defense had urged him to impose a sentence of no more than eight weeks in prison, while the prosecution had suggested he get up to seven months’ imprisonment.

But Hoong, imposing a 12-month sentence, said, “I am of the view it is appropriate to impose a sentence in excess of both parties’ positions.”

Iswaran’s conviction is an embarrassment to the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), which had prided itself on its clean reputation.

Singapore’s ministers are among the world’s best-paid politicians, and the country was listed among the world’s top five least corrupt countries by Transparency International in 2023.

The indictment against Iswaran was that he received gifts from Ong and Lum.

They included complimentary tickets to the Singapore Grand Prix, business class flights to Qatar and a stay at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, tickets to English Premier League soccer matches and West End musicals, wine, whisky and a luxury Brompton bicycle.

In a statement published last month, the Attorney-General’s Chambers said, “Iswaran knew that Ong was concerned in business transacted, namely, the performance of the facilitation agreement between Singapore GP Pte Ltd and the Singapore Tourism Board in 2012 and 2022 respectively, which had a connection with his official functions as Minister and Chairman of the F1 Steering Committee.

“Iswaran also knew that Lum was concerned in business transacted, namely, the performance of the T315 contract between Lum Chang Building Contractors Pte Ltd and the Land Transport Authority for ‘addition and alteration works to existing Tanah Merah station and existing viaducts,’ which had a connection with his official functions as minister.”

Iswaran was minister for trade and industry between 2015 and 2018 and then took on the communications and information brief, before getting the transport minister job in May 2021.

He resigned in January, when the allegations first emerged.

Iswaran was initially charged with 35 counts of corruption, but prosecutors downgraded the charges to receiving illegal gifts last month and dropped 30 of the counts.

Lewis Hamilton (L) leads the pack at the start during the 2009 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images

The PAP won 83 out of the 93 seats in parliament in the 2020 general election, but Lee Hsien Loong stepped down after 20 years as prime minister in May.

The current prime minister, Lawrence Wong, 51, majored in economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and got a Master’s degree in public administration from Harvard.

Back in January, when he was deputy prime minister, Wong said, “Will this incident have an impact on the party and party morale? I have no doubt that it will, but we cannot allow this political hit to compromise our zero-tolerance stance against corruption.”

On Sept. 26, the office of Attorney General Lucien Wong stated that it had yet to decide whether to charge Ong—who still owns the lucrative rights to the Singapore Grand Prix—and Lum.

Singapore held its first Grand Prix in 2008, a race which became infamous in Formula 1 history as “Crashgate” after Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed, leading to Felipe Massa dropping points and being deprived of the F1 drivers’ championship.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.