SINGAPORE, Feb 8 — Former Transport Minister S Iswaran, who was handed multiple bribery and corruption-related charges in January, was on Thursday (Feb 8) granted permission to leave Singapore for a little over two weeks.
Iswaran, 61, appeared in court to apply to leave the country from Feb 16 to March 4 to settle his son into university.
The country of destination was not read out in court, however according to CNA, Iswaran is headed for Australia.
The prosecution did not object to the application, but set out a few conditions which the defence has accepted.
The conditions are: An additional S$500,000 bail in cash, for the bailor not to travel with the accused and for the accused to provide the travel itinerary to the investigating officer.
Bail had previously been set at S$800,000.
In granting the request, District Judge Brenda Tan also directed that Iswaran is also to provide the address of where he is staying overseas, must remain contactable by the investigation officer at all times and has to surrender his travel documents within 24 hours of returning to Singapore.
The defence accepted these conditions.
On Thursday, the prosecution also applied for the case to be transferred to the High Court due to the strong public interest in the matter.
The defence said it did not disagree with the request, but in turn asked if the prosecution would be agreeable to begin the trial as soon as possible.
The prosecution said that the calendar of the High Court judge has to be taken into consideration.
District Judge Tan on Thursday also granted this request to move the case to the High Court.
Iswaran on Jan 18 had 27 charges levelled against him, mostly relating to alleged bribery and corruption involving more than S$384,300.
He was charged with 24 offences under Section 165 of the Penal Code, two under the Prevention of Corruption Act and one for obstruction of justice.
Section 165 of the Penal Code makes it an offence for a public servant to accept anything of value — without payment or with inadequate payment — from a person with whom he is involved in an official capacity.
It is not necessary to establish that the item of value was received as an inducement or a reward for it to be deemed as an offence.
Under this section of the Penal Code, Iswaran has been accused of obtaining valuable things worth about S$218,058.95 from Mr Ong Beng Seng, managing director of Hotel Properties and a Malaysian billionaire who gained a high profile for bringing the Formula 1 Grand Prix to Singapore
For the two counts of corruptly obtaining gratification, Iswaran allegedly received about S$166,280 worth of event and flight tickets, among other items, in September and December 2022 from Mr Ong, allegedly as inducement for advancing Mr Ong’s business interests.
Iswaran, who is being represented by a team led by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, had pleaded not guilty in January. He issued a statement after January’s hearing saying that he is “innocent” and intends to clear his name.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers said in January that it would only decide on what if any action to take against Mr Ong when proceedings against Iswaran have concluded. — TODAY
