Tycoon Ong Beng Seng pleads guilty in corruption case

A Singapore-based billionaire hotelier has pleaded guilty to one charge connected to a rare corruption scandal that shocked the country last year.

Ong Beng Seng is accused of giving expensive gifts, including tickets to the Formula 1 Grand Prix and a ride on a private jet to ex-transportation minister Subramaniam Iswaran while they were engaged in official business.

Ministers in Singapore cannot keep gifts unless they pay the market value of the gift to the government, and they must declare anything they receive from those they have business dealings with.

They are also among the highest-paid ministers in the world, with some earning more than S$1m ($758,000; £570,620).

Ong pleaded guilty on Monday to abetting the obstruction of justice by helping Iswaran pay the Singapore Grand Prix for a business class ticket from Doha to Singapore.

The 79-year-old is also accused of abetting Iswaran in obtaining an all expenses paid trip to Doha, said to be worth around S$20,850 ($16,188; £12,194).

Ong faces up to two years in jail for abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts, while the maximum jail term he faces for the abetment of obstruction of justice is seven years.

The two men were arrested in July 2023 and charge sheets revealed that Iswaran was gifted more than S$403,000 ($311,882; £234,586) worth of flights, hotel stays, musicals and grand prix tickets.

At the time of the offences Iswaran was in the government’s F1 steering committee and the chief negotiator on F1-related business matters.

Ong helped bring the F1 Grand Prix to Singapore and his company Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) has brands like the Four Seasons and Marriott operating under it.

Singapore’s lawmakers are among the highest-paid in the world, with leaders justifying the handsome salaries by saying it combats corruption.

Born in Malaysia in 1946, Ong moved to Singapore as a child and founded a hotel and property company in the 1980s.

Ong has a rare bone marrow cancer, and the court previously allowed him to travel abroad for medical and work purposes.

Hotel Properties Limited had earlier in April said that Ong would step down as its managing director “manage his medical conditions”.