S. Iswaran, Ex-Singapore Minister, Sentenced to 1 Year in Prison

A former government minister in Singapore was sentenced to one year in prison on Thursday in a rare graft case that has transfixed the affluent city-state.

S. Iswaran, the former transportation minister, last week pleaded guilty to accepting gifts as a public servant and to obstructing justice. He had been accused of accepting tickets to the play “Hamilton,” for soccer games in England and for the Formula 1 race in Singapore, along with other items. In total, he accepted gifts valued at 403,000 Singapore dollars ($312,000).

It was the first conviction of a former cabinet member in Singapore in nearly 50 years. Mr. Iswaran’s sentence exceeded the six- to seven-month term that prosecutors had sought. He has to surrender to the authorities on Monday.

The case was the latest in a series of scandals for the governing People’s Action Party, which has held power for more than six decades on the promise that it can deliver economic progress while upholding integrity. It has largely succeeded in doing so, but in the last 18 months, the speaker of Parliament, a P.A.P. appointee, has resigned over an extramarital affair with a lawmaker, and the real estate dealings of two other ministers have generated controversy.

The charges against Mr. Iswaran were filed in January, and he resigned as transportation minister shortly after. His case held the promise of a long and dramatic trial, as Mr. Iswaran promised to fight the charges. He had been accused of corruption, but last week he pleaded guilty to five lesser charges. A swift conclusion to Mr. Iswaran’s case will likely to smooth the way for the P.A.P. before the next general election, which has to be held by November 2025.

The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Thursday morning, dozens of people stood in line outside the Supreme Court to get tickets for the proceeding. Judge Vincent Hoong said during sentencing that the higher the office held by the offender as a public servant, the higher their level of culpability.

“Persons who hold public office are conferred status and power by virtue of such office, and obtaining of gifts from persons who have connection to public duties is an abuse of power,” Judge Hoong said, according to local news media.

He said he had difficulty in believing that Mr. Iswaran was remorseful because the defendant had publicly rejected the charges as false.

Mr. Iswaran’s lawyer, Davinder Singh, had argued last week that Mr. Iswaran should not spend more than eight weeks in prison. He said his client’s actions did not have an impact on the reputation of the government.

Mr. Iswaran was best known for his role in bringing Formula 1 races to Singapore. Most of his offenses involved the property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, who is the promoter of the Formula 1 race in the city. Mr. Ong has not been charged in the case.

Singapore has long prided itself on being one of the world’s least corrupt nations and takes a hard line against any perception of graft. The last time a former minister was sentenced to jail in Singapore was in 1975. The affluent financial hub was the fifth-least-corrupt country in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index in 2023, the only Asian country in the top 10.

The case against Mr. Iswaran has also reignited scrutiny of the status of Singapore’s ministers, who are some of the most highly paid government officials in the world. The argument is that the high wages — the benchmark is about $500,000 per year — curb corruption. But it has also made them seem out of touch in a country where the gap between rich and poor is widening.

Last year, many Singaporeans were outraged when the government announced that Mr. Iswaran had reduced his monthly salary to about $6,300, still more than most people make, after he was put under investigation. Mr. Iswaran has said since that he would return all the money that he had earned as a minister and as a member of Parliament since he was placed under investigation.

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