Singapore Minister Resigns After Being Charged With Rare Corruption Case

Singapore's Transport Minister S. Iswaran resigned on Thursday after being charged with 27 offenses in a graft investigation.

The charges against Iswaran were recognized as one of the highest-profile cases involving a minister in the Asian financial hub in decades.

Iswaran Resigns After Being Charged With 27 Offenses

(Photo : CATHERINE LAI/AFP via Getty Images)
Singapore's Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge for Trade Relations S. Iswaran (R) leaves the State Court in Singapore on January 18, 2024. Singapore's transport minister has been charged with 27 offences as part of a corruption probe, court documents showed on January 18. Iswaran said he would plead not guilty to the charges filed by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau when he appeared in court on Thursday, local newspaper the Straits Times reported.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister's office published Iswaran's resignation letter. Iswaran rejected the charges in the letter and said he would now focus on clearing his name.

According to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), property tycoon Ong Beng Seng paid kickbacks totaling S$384,340.98 ($286,181) to Iswaran, who was arrested in July last year. The alleged payment was made partly to advance Ong's business interests.

The charge documents revealed that the benefits included tickets to the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, musicals, a flight on Ong's private plane, and football games. Iswaran was an advisor to the Grand Prix's steering committee, while Ong possesses the race rights.

The CPIB noted that Iswaran faces 27 offenses, including corruption and obstruction of the course of justice. Iswaran could be fined up to S$100,000 or face seven years in prison if found guilty of corruption.

The property tycoon was also arrested in July as part of the corruption investigation. However, he has not been charged.

The case has engulfed Singapore, a major Asian financial hub that prides itself on a squeaky-clean government rarely affected by graft and scandals involving political leaders.

Civil servants receive generous compensation to discourage corruption. The annual salary of many cabinet ministers exceeds S$1 million.

In 2022, Transparency International ranked the city-state the fifth least corrupt country in its International Corruption Perceptions Index of 180 nations.

Lee's Corruption Case

Iswaran began serving as a junior prime minister in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's cabinet in 2006. He held responsibilities in trade and communications before being appointed as minister of transportation in May 2021.

The national development minister was investigated for allegedly collecting bribes in 1986, the last case of corruption involving a minister.

In August last year, Lee acknowledged that his ruling People's Action Party (PAP) had suffered due to the bribery investigation and the resignations of two senior PAP lawmakers due to an inappropriate relationship.

Lee also vowed to hand the baton to his successor, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, by November for a leadership transition.

On Thursday, Wong acknowledged the graft case's negative impact on the PAP but said it would not affect leadership transition plans.

Wong said they were disappointed that Iswaran had to leave politics under these circumstances. However, he noted that the PAP's stance on corruption was non-negotiable.

He added that they have announced that the leadership transition will take place before the next general election and before the party conference this year.

During a PAP event in November last year, Lee referred to Iswaran's case and said that the party must show Singaporeans and the world that the PAP's standards remained high after half a century in government.