Billionaire Ong pleads guilty in Singapore gifting scandal
On Monday, 79-year-old Ong Beng Seng conceded that he abetted the lawmaker in obstructing the course of justice, while another charge was taken into consideration. Both charges related to offering S. Iswaran in 2022 a trip on his private jet to Doha, a stay at the Four Seasons there, and a return business class ticket worth S$5,700 ($4,422.3). The former transport minister was then the chairman of a steering committee for the F1 night race.
Ong could be sentenced by a Singapore court as soon as Monday or at a later date. He faces up to seven years in jail and a possible fine.
Court proceedings were earlier interrupted twice due to a fire alarm.
Ong's lawyers asked the judge to take into consideration his medical condition in sentencing, recommending a jail sentence of six weeks with the admission of guilt. The prosecutor acknowledged as a mitigating factor Ong's cancer diagnosis.
Singapore's worst graft scandal in decades has gripped the city-state, which has sought to build a global reputation for zero-tolerance for corruption. How the Malaysia-born tycoon is sentenced will also weigh on his control of a business empire that extends from the Southeast Asian financial hub to a luxury development in central London and resorts in the Maldives. Ong has a net worth of $1.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In 2024, Iswaran was sentenced to one year in jail for obtaining gifts from Ong, which also included items like a Brompton bicycle and race tickets.
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who won his first electoral test as premier in May, has warned lawmakers in the ruling People's Action Party to separate their public political position from private, professional or business interests, and be wary of potential conflicts.
Ong retains a significant footprint in Singapore. His firm continues to run the annual Grand Prix night race, which he helped bring to the city in 2008 owing to a close friendship with former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. A multiyear extension of the race contract agreed with Singapore's tourism board is slated to end by 2028.
Hotel Properties was also granted initial approval to redevelop marquee assets at a key slice of Singapore's premier shopping belt Orchard Road in 2023, but has been looking to sell stakes in them, Bloomberg News reported earlier.
A harsh sentence may make it harder to maintain control of his empire. The absence of a clear successor and a lack of active involvement by Ong's children in Hotel Properties make possible an outside takeover of the firm or a sale of its Orchard Road portfolio, analysts at DBS said in May. The firm's thinly traded stock has risen over 50% this year.
Hotel Properties maintains ties with the likes of Singapore state investor Temasek. Ong in 2021 led a S$3.9 billion takeover of the property assets of media company Singapore Press Holdings in collaboration with two Temasek units, though Hotel Properties divested its stake in the consortium earlier this year. Temasek and Hotel Properties also each control a 30% stake in a joint venture overseeing a major mixed-use development in London now known as Bankside Yards.
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