A former minister in Singapore has been jailed for a year for receiving more than £230,000 worth of gifts, including tickets to Premier League matches and West End musicals.
S Iswaran, who was a member of Singapore’s cabinet for 13 years in which he held the trade, communications and transport portfolios, pleaded guilty last week to four counts of improperly receiving gifts and one of obstructing justice.
Other expensive gifts the 62-year-old accepted from businessmen included a trip on a private jet, a luxury Brompton bike and tickets to the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix.
His sentence was more severe than the six to seven months sought by the prosecution, which Judge Vincent Hoong said was “manifestly inadequate” given the gravity of Iswaran’s offences and their impact on public trust.
“Trust and confidence in public institutions were the bedrock of effective governance, which could all too easily be undermined by the appearance that an individual public servant had fallen below the standards of integrity and accountability,” he said when sentencing Iswaran.
Iswaran was initially charged with 35 counts, but prosecutors proceeded with only five, while reducing two counts of corruption to receiving illegal gifts.
The former minister initially pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has been allowed out on bail before his jail term begins on Monday.
The case has shocked Singapore, which is one of the world’s least corrupt countries, according to Transparency International’s corruption perception index.
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The last corruption case involving a Singaporean minister was in 1986, when the country’s national development minister was investigated for alleged bribery. He died before any charges were filed.
The last minister charged with graft was Wee Toon Boon, who was found guilty in 1975 and jailed for accepting gifts in exchange for helping a business person.
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Iswaran’s trial comes just four months after Singapore installed a new prime minister Lawrence Wong. The country’s former premier Lee Hsien Loong stepped down after 20 years.
