Former Singapore minister sentenced to one year in prison in rare corruption case: NPR

Singapore's former Minister for Transport and Minister in charge of Trade Relations S. Iswaran (center) leaves the Supreme Court in Singapore on Thursday.

Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images

Hide caption

Toggle label

Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images

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

Subramaniam Iswaran has become the first Singaporean minister in nearly fifty years to be jailed after the 62-year-old admitted his crimes in a dramatic court hearing last week.

The former transport minister had vowed to clear his name after he was accused of 35 charges, including corruption, over accepting gifts worth more than $300,000. This included flights, hotel stays and tickets to musicals and football games.

But in a surprise twist, Iswaran pleaded guilty to lesser charges following four counts of obtaining valuable items as a public servant and one count of obstruction of justice.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Vincent Hoong overruled the prosecution's recommendation of a maximum sentence of seven months.

According to local media reports, he told Iswaran that people in his position “must be expected to avoid the impression that they are vulnerable to being influenced by financial gain.”

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

Singapore's ministers earn a starting salary of over $36,000 per month. This compares to the country's average monthly salary, which was just over $4,000 last month.

Such salaries are intended to curb corruption, but according to Singapore-based political scientist Ian Chong, these policies, developed in the 1980s, may no longer work.

“Given the wealth flowing through Singapore today, what's on offer in terms of compensation for senior political appointees may no longer be enough,” he told NPR.

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

The rights to the race belong to Ong Beng Seng, a Malaysian real estate tycoon who gave Iswaran gifts including flights to Doha and a night at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Qatari capital.

Ong was arrested along with Iswaran last year. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in Singapore was investigating the two. Ong was not charged.

The case has sparked widespread interest in the city-state, with some locals queuing for hours outside the Supreme Court to secure tickets to the public gallery.

There are also questions about what impact it could have on the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled the country since its independence in 1965.

The center-right party has long dominated politics in the city-state, although it suffered a disappointing result in the last election in 2020, with its vote share falling to 61%, compared to almost 70% in 2015.

Singapore is due to hold elections before November 2025, with the opposition Workers' Party hoping to win more than the 10 parliamentary seats it currently holds.

A new generation of leaders has recently emerged in the ruling party under the leadership of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who took office in May.

“It raises some doubts about Singapore's commitment and whether current generational leaders lack that strong anti-corruption stance,” said Eugene Tan, associate professor of law at Singapore Management University.

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

“It’s a setback,” Professor Tan said. “I don't think it will be a game changer… (but) they need to use the limited time until the general election to repair the damage that may have been done to the public's trust and to win back the public's support.” .”