Singapore:Â Property billionaire Ong Beng Seng is due to plead guilty on 4 August 2025, in a high-profile corruption-related case connected to former Singapore transport minister S Iswaran.
The updated plea date was confirmed at a pre-trial conference held on 28 July 2025, before District Judge Lee Lit Cheng.
Ong, aged 79, remains on bail set at S$800,000.
Initially, Ong was expected to plead guilty on 2 April 2025.
However, the session was postponed after his legal team requested more time to acquire his medical reports.
A subsequent date of 3 July 2025 was also vacated one day prior, as both prosecution and defence sought additional time to file sentencing submissions.
The case proceeded through several further pre-trial conferences before the 4 August date was set.
Ong was formally charged on 4 October 2024 with abetment of a public servant in obtaining gifts, and with abetment of obstruction of justice.
Court documents indicate that in December 2022, Ong arranged for S Iswaran to fly on his private jet from Singapore to Doha.
The flight was valued at approximately US$7,700 (S$10,400).
In addition to the flight, Ong allegedly provided Iswaran with a one-night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel Doha, costing S$4,737.63, and a business-class return flight to Singapore, valued at S$5,700.
According to case filings, Ong later informed Iswaran that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) had seized the flight manifest for the trip.
This prompted Iswaran to request Ong to bill him for the travel, in an apparent attempt to pre-empt investigative concerns.
Ong is therefore facing a charge of abetment of obstruction of justice under Section 204A of Singapore’s Penal Code.
If convicted, he may face up to seven years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
If found guilty of abetting the obtaining of valuables under Section 165, he could be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.
Hotel Properties Limited, where Ong serves as managing director, disclosed in a February 2025 Singapore Exchange filing that Ong intends to plead guilty to the obstruction charge.
He has also agreed to allow the gift-related charge to be taken into consideration during sentencing.
Ong Beng Seng is widely recognised for bringing the Formula One night race to Singapore in 2008.
He played a key role in negotiating with Formula One Group’s then-chief executive Bernie Ecclestone to make Singapore the sport’s first night race host.
S Iswaran, during his tenure as chairman of the F1 steering committee, was the Government’s lead negotiator with Singapore GP on related commercial matters.
The two men collaborated in the mid-2000s to secure the landmark sporting event.
Iswaran was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment on 3 October 2024, after being found guilty of accepting multiple gifts from Ong. He was placed on home detention from 7 February 2025 and released from custody on 6 June 2025.
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