AFTER former minister S Iswaran pleaded guilty to five charges – not including corruption – on Tuesday (Sep 24), the sentencing hearing was adjourned that afternoon.
Justice Vincent Hoong will give his sentencing decision on Oct 3. He asked for time to deliberate the arguments from both parties.
The prosecution is seeking a total of six to seven months of imprisonment, while the defence is asking for a total of eight weeks’ jail instead.
Iswaran had earlier faced one charge of obstruction of justice; two charges of corruption; and 32 charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code. Section 165 prohibits a public servant from accepting any valuable thing with zero or inadequate consideration, from someone connected to any proceedings or business transactions that he or she handles.
But at the start of the trial on Tuesday, the court heard that the prosecution would be proceeding on four charges under Section 165 and one charge of obstruction of justice. The prosecution applied for the other charges to be taken into consideration for sentencing.
After an adjournment for the charges to be read to Iswaran, court resumed and he pleaded guilty to all five charges. The judge accepted his plea and convicted him of the charges.
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Both sides presented their arguments for the sentencing decision before the hearing was adjourned till Oct 3.
Noting that there have been no reported decisions under Section 165 in Singapore, Justice Hoong asked the lawyers on both sides to refer to a similar case in Malaysian federal court, and provide submissions by Thursday on how the sentencing in that case might apply to this one.
The prosecution’s proposals
Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong said the prosecution considered three factors in its sentencing