Tickets to F1, Harry Potter shows and football matches: Iswaran faces 27 charges including corruption

SINGAPORE — Former Transport Minister S. Iswaran now faces 27 charges in total.

He is accused of 24 counts of obtaining, as a minister, items with a total value of more than $200,000 from property tycoon Ong Beng Seng. Ong is the man who brought Formula One to Singapore.

These items include tickets to the Singapore Grand Prix, football matches in the UK and musicals.

Iswaran allegedly obtained the following, either from Ong directly, or through either Como Holdings (UK) or Singapore GP:

1. Two tickets to the show Thriller worth about £200 (approximately S$429.94 according to court documents), around November 2015.

2. Two tickets to the show The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time worth about £270, around November 2015

3. Two tickets to the football match for West Ham United FC vs Everton FC (Boleyn Ground) worth about £468, around November 2015.

4. Two tickets to the football match for Arsenal FC vs Tottenham Hotspur FC (Emirates) worth about £550, around November 2015.

5. Ten green room tickets to the 2016 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix worth about $42,265, in September 2016.

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6. Ten green room tickets to the 2017 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix worth about $42,265, in September 2017.

7. Five boardwalk tickets to the 2017 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix worth about $40,000, in September 2017.

8. Four tickets to the show Book of Mormon worth about £540, around December 2017.

9. Four tickets to the football match for Chelsea FC v Southampton FC (Stamford Bridge) worth about £700, around December 2017.

10. Four tickets to the shows Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Part 2 worth about £1,000, around December 2017.

11. Four tickets to the football match for Arsenal FC v Liverpool FC (Emirates) worth about £1,100, around December 2017.

12. Four tickets to the show Kinky Boots worth about £300, around December 2017.

13. Six Twenty3 tickets to the 2018 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix worth about $13,193.10, in September 2018.

14. Thirteen general admission tickets to the 2018 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix worth about $16,744, in September 2018.

15. Four tickets to the show The Play That Goes Wrong worth about £380, around December 2018.

16. Four tickets to the show School of Rock worth about £560, around December 2018.

17. Four tickets to the football match for Chelsea FC v Manchester City FC (Stamford Bridge) worth at least £120 around December 2018.

18. Four tickets to the show Hamilton worth about £400, sometime around June 2019.

19. Four tickets to the show Waitress worth about £524, sometime around June 2019.

20. Four tickets to the show Betrayal worth about £1,080, sometime around June 2019.

21. Six green room tickets to the 2019 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix worth about $26,643, sometime in September 2019.

22. Sixteen general admission tickets to the 2019 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix worth about $20,608, sometime in September 2019.

23. Two tickets to the show Back to the Future worth about £449, or about S$814.49, sometime around December 2021.

24. Two tickets to the show & Juliet worth about £250, sometime around December 2021.

Iswaran was also handed two graft charges.

25. He allegedly corruptly obtained 10 Green Room tickets, eight Twenty3 tickets and 32 general admission tickets to the 2022 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix worth about $48,150, $56,068 and $41,216, in September 2022.

26. He allegedly corruptly obtained: an outbound flight on Ong's private plane from Singapore to Doha worth about US$7,700 (approximately S$10,410.40 according to court documents); a one night's stay in Four Seasons Doha, worth about $4,737.63 through Singapore GP; and a business class flight from Doha to Singapore worth about $5,700 through Singapore GP.

This was purportedly as an inducement for doing acts in relation to his principal's affairs — advancing Ong's business interests in matters relating to: a contract with a public body, the Facilitation Agreement between Singapore GP and the Singapore Tourism Board and a proposal for a contract with the STB to establish the ABBA Voyage virtual concert in Singapore;

27. Iswaran is also accused of performing an act that could likely obstruct the course of justice. He allegedly repaid $5,700 to Singapore GP for the cost of his business class flight ticket from Doha to Singapore that he purportedly took on Dec 11, 2022, at Ong's expense through Singapore GP.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.