SINGAPORE – A district court has granted property tycoonOngBeng Seng’s application to leave Singapore from April 28 to May 16 to travel to the United States, Britain and Italy.
A State Courts online portal states that Ong, who is facing charges in a case allegedly linked to former transport minister S. Iswaran, is expected to go to London, Boston, Miami, New York and Florence for work.
On April 24, the court also heard that he will be travelling to the US for undisclosed medical reasons.
Ong’s current bail of $800,000 has also been doubled to $1.6 million.
As part of the conditions, the 79-year-old Malaysian must provide the full details of where he will be staying and his contact numbers to the investigating officer (IO) handling his case or an officer acting under the latter.
Ong must also remain contactable by the IO and surrender his passport to the officer within 24 hours upon return to Singapore.
In 2024, the billionaire was charged with one count of abetment underSection 165, which makes it an offence for a public servant to accept anything of value from any person with whom he is involved in an official capacity without payment or with inadequate payment.
Ong is known asthe man who brought Formula One (F1) to Singapore in 2008– the first night race in the sport’s history.
Iswaran was the chairman of the F1 steering committee and the Government’s chief negotiator with Singapore GP on business matters related to the race.
The two men had worked in the mid-2000s to convince then Formula One Group chief executive Bernie Ecclestone to make Singapore the venue for the sport’s first night race.
According to court documents, the businessman in December 2022 allegedly instigated Iswaran to fly on Ong’s private plane from Singapore to Doha.
The flight was valued at US$7,700 (S$10,400), according to court documents.
Ong is also said to have arranged for Iswaran a one-night stay in Four Seasons Hotel Doha, valued at $4,737.63, and a business class flight from Doha to Singapore, valued at $5,700.
He had allegedly alerted Iswaran that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau had seized the flight manifest for the December 2022 trip, prompting Iswaran to ask the tycoon to bill him for the flight to avoid investigations.
For this alleged offence, he was given a second charge – the abetment of obstruction of justice.
Iswaran, 62, faced a total of 35 charges,most of which involved Ong.
Iswaran wassentenced to 12 months’ jailin October 2024 for, among other things, obtaining a number of valuable items from Ong.
The Straits Times had earlier reported that Ong intends to plead guilty, and his pre-trial conference will take place on April 25.
If convicted of abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts, an offender can be jailed for up to two years, fined or both.
If convicted of abetting obstruction of justice, an offender can be jailed for up to seven years, fined or both.
- Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.
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