SINGAPORE: Singapore’s former Transport Minister S. Iswaran is now detained at home, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) said on Friday (Feb 7). He will be serving what remains of his year-long jail sentence at his residence.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) quoted the SPS as saying that the terms of his house arrest include “curfew monitoring using an electronic monitoring tag, being gainfully occupied either in work, study, or training, and reporting to SPS for counselling”. These conditions are the same as those imposed on other inmates under the Home Detention Scheme.
Prisoners become eligible for home detention after serving at least 14 days of a prison sentence longer than four weeks.
The 62-year-old former minister has been “assessed suitable for emplacement on the scheme, as he is of low risk of re-offending, did not commit any institutional offence in prison, and has strong family support”, the SPS told Reuters.
CNA reported that he was seen at his home at Serangoon Gardens, having a meal at around 2 pm on Feb 7.
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Iswaran was jailed on Oct 7, 2024, after having been sentenced to 12 months in prison for obstructing justice and receiving $403,300 worth of gifts. He had earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of improperly receiving gifts and one of obstructing justice.
The court handed down a longer jail sentence than what the prosecution had requested. While prosecutors sought a six- to seven-month jail term, presiding judge Vincent Hoong deemed this “manifestly inadequate,” citing the severity of the former minister’s offences and their potential impact on public trust in government institutions. The defence, meanwhile, had argued for a maximum prison sentence of eight weeks.
On Jan 18, 2024, 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.
Two months later, on March 24, he was slapped with eight additional charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code, which disallows public servants from obtaining valuable items from individuals with whom they have official dealings. The Jan 18 charges against Iswaran are related to gifts from Ong Beng Seng, while the March 24 charges relate to gifts from Lum Kok Seng. /TISG
Read also: S Iswaran sentenced to a year in jail, five months more time sought by the prosecution