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

SINGAPORE: In Parliament on Thursday (Sept 25), Sylvia Lim (WP-Aljunied) sought an affirmation from Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Faisal Ibrahim that the law should apply evenly to everyone. She raised supplementary questions about Ong Beng Seng, the Malaysian businessman who brought F1 to Singapore and was involved in one of Singapore’s largest corruption scandals, in which the former Transport Minister S Iswaran was jailed for obtaining valuable items as a public servant.

On Aug 15, 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, though 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 the plasma cells of a person’s bone marrow. Furthermore, the source said he had been undergoing chemotherapy for the illness.

Read related: Ong Beng Seng, diagnosed with cancer, undergoing chemotherapy

Questions from WP MPs

Workers’ Party MPs in Parliament on Sept 25 raised two questions regarding healthcare services for prison inmates.

First, Gerald Giam (Aljunied) asked if prisons will be reviewing facilities and procedures to reassure the public about their capabilities in handling jailed individuals who have grave health conditions and are prone to infections.

Then, Ms Lim asked several supplementary questions, specifically mentioning Mr Ong’s case, saying that she wanted to better understand MHA’s response to Mr Ong’s sentencing judgment. She asked if he accepted  “that there’s no way that the prisons can actually address this concern of the courts with regard to potentially fatal infections and falls?”

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MP Sylvia Lim’s questions on MHA’s response to the recent sentencing judgement in Mr Ong Beng Seng’s case #wpsg #workingforsingapore #singapore #parliament

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Ms Lim, who has been Chair of the Workers’ Party since 2003, went on to ask for Mr Faishal’s affirmation that “in the public interest, the law should apply evenly to everyone, and there should not be any perception that ill health is seen as a licence to commit crimes and escape punishment”.

She added that as healthcare technology improves, MHA and the Singapore Prison Services (SPS) should always review whether care facilities could be improved for prisoners who might have even more complex healthcare situations.

Ms Lim‘s final supplementary question involved handling prisoners with serious health conditions.

“I understand from the Prisons Act that there is an option if the court were to sentence a seriously ill prisoner to imprisonment, there’s an option for the minister to actually issue an external placement order,” she said, explaining that this means the minister can order the Commissioner of Prisons to move the inmate to more suitable place in view of his severe illness. Ms Lim asked if Prof Faishal could confirm whether the minister has exercised this power.

In his reply, he said that the healthcare within the prison system is comparable to that outside, adding that he has seen prisoners who’ve needed dialysis, chemotherapy, and other treatments.

“We maintain that we have an adequate healthcare system and protocol, but the judge will have to decide based on the facts of the case,” he said. /TISG

Read also: Billionaire walks free: Ong Beng Seng dodges jail in Singapore power scandal