ICA issues warning to Ong Beng Seng, but he gets to keep his PR status

SINGAPORE: The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) announced on Monday (Nov 10) that the permanent resident status of Ong Beng Seng will not be revoked.

“Instead, he has been issued a letter of warning to put him on notice that any future adverse conduct will render him liable for revocation of his PR status,” the authority said.

The Malaysian property tycoon, best known for having played an important role in bringing Formula 1 to Singapore, had been involved in one of the city-state’s most high-profile corruption scandals, in which the former Transport Minister S Iswaran was jailed for obtaining valuable items as a public servant.

In August, Ong, 79, was fined S$30,000 after he pleaded guilty in a graft case. Due to his ill health, he was fined in lieu of a prison sentence. The prosecution and defence agreed to grant him judicial mercy, although he could have been jailed for up to seven years.

In February, a source close to Ong told CNA that the businessman has multiple myeloma, a rare cancer that develops in a person’s plasma cells in the bone marrow. Furthermore, the source said he had been undergoing chemotherapy for the illness.

A spokesperson for the ICA said in August that the status of permanent residents convicted of an offence in Singapore would be reviewed.

Therefore, “ICA will review Mr Ong Beng Seng’s permanent residency since he has been convicted and sentenced,” the spokesperson said.

Who is Ong Beng Seng?

In July 2023, then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong instructed Iswaran to take a leave of absence while he was under investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). By the following January, Iswaran was charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with one charge of obstruction of justice and 24 charges of obtaining a valuable thing as a public servant related to having accepted from Ong items worth more than S$384,000 between November 2015 and December 2022.

Ong built his name and fortune as a hotelier and is the managing director of Hotel Properties Limited (HPL). The net worth of Ong and his wife, Christina, is said to be between US$1.5 billion (S$1.95 billion) and US$2.15 billion. Ms Ong runs Como Hotels & Resorts, the global fashion retail empire Club 21, and the luxury handbag brand Mulberry, which is based in the UK.

He is the sole shareholder of the Singapore Grand Prix, the first Formula 1 street race in Asia and the first race to be held at night in F1’s history.

Interestingly, former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong mentioned Ong in his book Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years, Volume 2.

He wrote, “My concern was that Ong Beng Seng, being a shrewd businessman like all developers, might be using (Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Kuan Yew), doing a favour for them without their knowing it,” in connection to an inquiry about the Nassim Jade flats that Ong’s company had developed and that the Lees bought.

However, Mr Goh added that Lee Kuan Yew had later praised Ong as a “straightforward businessman who should not be punished for the incident.”/TISG

Read also: Sylvia Lim on Ong Beng Seng case: There should no perception that ill health is licence to commit crimes & escape punishment