Former Singapore minister sentenced to a year in prison in rare corruption case

SINGAPORE — A former Singapore cabinet minister has been sentenced to a year in prison for receiving illegal gifts while in office, in a case that has shocked a country famed for its squeaky-clean reputation.

Subramaniam Iswaran is the first Singaporean minister to be jailed in almost fifty years, after the 62-year-old admitted to his misdemeanors in a dramatic court hearing last week.

The former transport minister had vowed to clear his name after facing 35 charges, including corruption, for receiving gifts in excess of $300,000. These included flights, hotel stays and tickets to musicals and football matches.

But in a surprise twist, Iswaran plead guilty to lesser charges, after the prosecution proceeded with four counts of obtaining valuable items as a public servant and one charge of obstructing justice.

In sentencing, Justice Vincent Hoong overruled the prosecution's recommendation of a maximum sentence of seven months.

He told Iswaran that people in his position “must be expected to avoid any perception that they are susceptible to influence by pecuniary benefits,” according to local media reports.

The case has caused shockwaves in the tiny Southeast Asian financial hub, with the country ranked as the fifth least corrupt nation in the world in Transparency International’s 2023 index.

Singapore’s ministers earn a starting salary of over $36,000 a month. That’s in comparison to the median monthly salary for the country, which came in at just over $4000 last month.

Such salaries are intended to discourage corruption, however, according to Singapore-based political scientist Ian Chong, this policy — which was devised in the 1980’s — might not work anymore.

“Given the amount of wealth that is running through Singapore today… whatever is being offered in terms of compensation for senior political appointees may no longer be sufficient,” he told NPR.

Iswaran was a stalwart in Singaporean politics and, when he resigned earlier this year, was one of the longest-serving ministers. He has held ministerial positions in trade and communications, but is best known for his role in bringing Formula 1’s famous night race to the streets of Singapore.

The rights to the race are owned by Ong Beng Seng, a Malaysian property tycoon who provided gifts to Iswaran, including flights to Doha and a night in the Four Seasons Hotel in the Qatari capital.

Ong was arrested last year along with Iswaran, with the pair investigated by Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau. Ong has not been charged.

The case has sparked huge amounts of interest in the city-state, with some locals queuing for hours outside the High Court in order to secure tickets to the public gallery.

There are also questions about how it could impact the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), who have governed the country since it became independent in 1965.

The center-right party has long dominated politics in the city-state, although they suffered a disappointing performance in the last election in 2020, with their share of the vote dropping to 61%, down on the near 70% they received in 2015.

Singapore is slated to hold an election before November 2025, with the opposition Worker’s Party hoping to pick up more than the ten seats in parliament that they currently hold.

A new crop of leaders has recently emerged in the ruling party, led by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who took charge in May.

“It does raise that element of doubt about Singapore's commitment and whether the current generational leaders lack that strong anti-corruption stance,” said Eugene Tan, an associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University.

The Iswaran affair comes at a challenging time for the PAP: two ministers resigned last year over an extramarital affair and Singaporean’s are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.

“It is a setback,” said professor Tan. “I don't think it will be a game changer… (but) they will have to use the limited time between now and the general election to repair the damage that may have been caused to public trust and confidence and to regain the public's support.”