Indian-origin former minister facing graft charges allowed to leave S’pore to put son in Australian university

Singapore: Singapore’s Indian-origin former transport minister, facing corruption charges, was granted permission to leave the country on Thursday to travel to Australia for about two weeks to help his son settle into an Australian university.

S Iswaran was arrested on July 11 last year as part of an investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). His arrest was made public on July 14.

The 61-year-old Iswaran has applied for permission to leave Singapore for Australia between February 16 and March 4, Channel News Asia reported.

The prosecution had no objection as long as Iswaran adhered to additional bail conditions - including an additional bail sum of SGD 500,000 ($372,000) in cash on top of his existing bail of SGD 800,000.

District Judge Brenda Tan approved the travel application and imposed the bail conditions asked for by the prosecution.

Apart from the additional cash bail, Iswaran is required to provide his travel itinerary and overseas address to the investigating officer, as well as remain contactable by the Investigating Officer (IO) at all times.

Iswaran's case will also be transferred to the High Court, with both sides agreeing on the matter, according to a report by the Channel.

A criminal case disclosure conference for the case will be held in the High Court on March 22.

All 27 charges Iswaran faces were re-read to him, as required when a case is transferred to the High Court.

On January 18, Iswaran was handed two cases of corruptly obtaining bribes from property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, 24, and one of obstructing justice.

The former minister is accused of corruptly receiving more than SGD166,000 ($123,570) worth of flights, hotel stays and tickets to events in exchange for advancing the billionaire's business interests.

He is separately accused of obtaining about SGD218,000 worth of valuable items in his capacity as a minister who also dealt with Ong and his company.

Iswaran was chairman of the F1 Steering Committee.

Both Iswaran and Ong had worked on staging the F1 Race in Singapore.

Iswaran has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, saying he would focus on clearing his name.

He resigned from his positions in government two days before being formally charged in court - he had previously been placed on a leave of absence pending an investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.