THE Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) will “take a decision” regarding billionaire and property tycoon Ong Beng Seng “soon”, it said in response to media queries on Tuesday (Sep 24) evening.
This came after former minister S Iswaran pleaded guilty to five charges on the first day of his scheduled trial, including some that relate to his dealings with Ong.
Iswaran had earlier faced 35 charges in total, including two charges of corruption. But the prosecution on Tuesday amended the corruption charges to charges under Section 165 instead.
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.
The prosecution proceeded on five charges – four under Section 165 and one charge of obstruction of justice – with the remaining charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
Two of the Section 165 charges relate to the ex-minister’s dealings with Ong. One charge is for obtaining 10 green room tickets to the 2017 Singapore F1 Grand Prix with a value of S$42,265.
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The other – amended from an earlier corruption charge – was for obtaining a flight on Ong’s private jet, one night’s stay at the Four Seasons Doha hotel, and a business class flight for a total of S$20,908.03.
Ong has yet to face any charges.
“Litigation risks”
Responding to queries, AGC said that in deciding whether to amend the charges, it considered the litigation risks involved in proving the corruption charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This is given that there are two primary parties to the transactions, and both would have an interest in denying corruption in the transactions, said AGC.
AGC also considered whether the amendment would lead to “a
