F1 tycoon Ong Beng Seng admits guilt in Singapore's Iswaran corruption case
Singapore -based billionaire hotelier and architect of the city state's
Formula One Grand Prix , pleaded guilty on Monday to abetting former transport minister S. Iswaran in a corruption scandal.
Ong, a 79-year-old Malaysian national, entered a guilty plea to a single charge of abetting Iswaran in obstructing justice, admitting to relaying sensitive information about an ongoing anti-corruption investigation to the then minister. His sentencing is scheduled for August 15.
The case has riveted Singapore, a nation that consistently tops global anti-corruption rankings and prides itself on the probity of its public officials, who are among the world's best paid.
Iswaran was
sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment by a High Court judge last October after being convicted on four counts of accepting gifts from individuals with whom he had professional dealings as a public servant, and one charge of obstructing justice.
According to court documents, Ong's offence centred on phone conversations held in May 2023. The majority shareholder of Singapore GP Pte Ltd – the company that organised the Singapore F1 Grand Prix – was informed by his associates on May 18 that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau had seized a flight manifest detailing a trip to Doha.
Ong then passed this information to Iswaran, the court heard, who subsequently requested that Singapore GP invoice him S$5,700 (US$4,260) for a business class ticket from Doha to Singapore.
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