Singapore’s former transport minister Subramaniam Iswaran, known as S. Iswaran, has been charged with graft in one of the most high-profile cases involving a minister in the Asian financial hub, the anti-corruption agency reported on Thursday.
Iswaran faces a total of 27 charges, including corruption and obstruction of justice. In the resignation letter, he denied the allegations and claimed that he “will now focus on clearing my name.” If found guilty of corruption, he could face a fine of up to 100,000 Singapore dollars or a seven-year jail sentence.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) stated that Iswaran, arrested in July last year, allegedly received kickbacks worth S$384,340.98 (US$286,181) from property company Ong Beng Seng to promote its business interests.
The expenses include tickets to football matches, musicals, flights on Ong’s private jet, and tickets to the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.
Singapore stands proud of its spotlessly clean government, which is rarely plagued by bribery and scandals involving political leaders. In 2022, Transparency International ranked the city-state as the fifth least corrupt country in its International Corruption Perceptions Index, which included 180 countries.
Civil servants are highly salaried for their anti-corruption efforts, with many cabinet ministers’ annual wage exceeding S$1 million.
Iswaran, 61, joined Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s cabinet as a junior minister in 2006 and was in charge of trade and communications prior to becoming transport minister in May 2021. Lee admitted that his ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) had been affected by a bribery investigation and the resignation of two senior PAP MPs over “inappropriate relationships.”
Singapore will hold elections by 2025, with the party planning a leadership change. Lee promises to cede the post to Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong by November.
The incumbent prime minister stated that PAP must “show Singaporeans and the world that after half a century in government, the PAP’s standards remain as high as ever.”
