Bribes, Jets and Regrets

A former Singaporean cabinet minister was sentenced to a year in prison on Thursday, the first-ever jail sentence for a high-level official in the country, in a corruption case that has rocked the city-state known for its clean governance, according to CNN.

In a court hearing last week, Subramaniam Iswaran, a cabinet member for 13 years who held the transportation, trade and communication portfolios, pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing justice and four counts of improperly receiving more than $300,000 worth of gifts.

The prosecution argued that Iswaran had accepted gifts from business people including tickets to London musicals, English Premier League matches, the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, and a ride on a private jet.

When Iswaran was first charged in January, he resigned from his position as transport minister. He initially denied the charges, but last week pled guilty to the five counts.

This case shocked the Asian financial hub, which has long enjoyed a reputation for clean government – Singapore was ranked as the fifth least corrupt nation in the world on Transparency International’s 2023 corruption perception index.

Meanwhile, the last time a government official was involved in a corruption case was in 1986, but the suspect died before he could be charged, the BBC reported.

Singapore pays its ministers a starting salary topping $36,000 a month, well above the national medium monthly wage of $4,000, to discourage corruption.

“Given the amount of wealth that is running through Singapore today … whatever is being offered in terms of compensation for senior political appointees may no longer be sufficient,” political scientist Ian Chong told NPR, adding that this policy for salaries was devised in the 1980s.

Iswaran will begin serving his sentence at Changi, the same prison holding inmates on death row, on Monday.

Meanwhile, the conviction comes at a pivotal time for the governing People’s Action Party. The party has seen a decline in voter support after a series of political scandals, and also increasing voter frustration with the rising cost of living.

Singapore is to hold a general election by November 2025.