SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – The highly anticipated corruption trial of Singapore’s former transport minister is due to start today, in a rare graft case involving a state official in an Asian financial hub that prides itself on a clean governance.
S. Iswaran faces 35 charges in a case that has gripped Singapore, a wealthy city-state where allegations of graft and political scandal are almost unheard of. Iswaran, 62, has rejected the allegations.
He was arrested in July last year and was accused of taking kickbacks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, partly to advance Ong’s business interests. Ong has not been charged with any offence.
The last corruption case involving a Singaporean minister was in 1986, when the national development minister was investigated for allegedly accepting bribes. The minister died before he could be charged in court.
Iswaran, who joined the cabinet in 2006, is the first Singaporean minister to be tried in court.
If convicted of corruption, Iswaran could be fined up to S$100,000 and face up to seven years in prison.
According to charge sheets, the alleged favours Iswaran received included tickets to English Premier League soccer matches, musicals, a flight on Ong’s private plane and tickets to the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Iswaran was advisor to the Grand Prix’s steering committee, while Ong owns the rights to the race.
The first phase of the trial will run until Friday. Iswaran is defended by Davinder Singh, a star litigator whose client list has included the former premier and late founder of modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew.
The prosecution team is led by deputy attorney-general, Tai Wei Shyong.
Singapore was among the world’s least corruption countries last year, according to Transparency International’s corruption perception index, bettered only by Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and Norway.