Amidst charges against S Iswaran for receiving over S$400,000 of gifts from Ong Beng Seng and Lum Kok Seng, Iswaran's lawyer argued that the former transport minister thought he was "dealing with very, very dear and close friends".

Defence lawyer Davinder Singh said this at a court hearing on Wednesday (May 8) in a bid to secure a joint trial for the two sets of charges that Iswaran faces.

Singh asserted that Iswaran’s state of mind was the same for both sets of charges, and that he did not suspect these gifts were "veiled gratification", The Straits Times and CNA reported.

Thought he was dealing with close friends: Defence

"His state of mind at that time was that not only was he dealing with close friends, he had no idea at all that there was any... he had no knowledge or suspicion that the gifts were offered as veiled gratification," Singh said.

Iswaran is accused of receiving over S$360,000 of tickets to football matches, F1 races, and shows from property tycoon Ong, allegedly in exchange for advancing the latter's business interests.

He is also accused of having obtained bottles of whisky, golf clubs and a Brompton bicycle from construction firm boss Lum.

Ong, founder of hotel operator Hotel Properties, is known for bringing F1 to Singapore.

Lum is the managing director of Lum Chang Holdings, a Singapore construction firm.

On Iswaran's state of mind when receiving the gifts, Singh said that Iswaran was aware of the Minister's Code of Conduct.

The code does not prevent ministers or their family members from accepting gifts from family or personal friends “in a genuinely personal capacity”.

Ready to take on both sets of charges at once: Defence

Iswaran faces 27 charges involving Ong and 8 charges involving Lum, and has pleaded not guilty to all of them.

His trial dates are currently scheduled for August and September 2024.

Singh claimed that the prosecution wanted to have the second set of charges involving Lum heard first and that they sought to "push off" the Ong charges.

The defence objected to this, and asked for both sets of charges to be heard together as they share similar features, Singh said.

He asserted that the prosecution's claim of resource constraints was "extraordinary" as the prosecution had more lawyers than the defence.

Singh also suggested that the prosecution wanted separate trials to have a "preview" of the defence.

He told the judge, “My client is saying, come at me with both sets, please, I am ready to take you on.”

Charges have no factual connection to one another: Prosecution

The prosecution, led by Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong, refuted Singh’s suggestion that the prosecution wanted to split the charges to “preview” Iswaran’s defence.

"If he has a good defence and shows reasonable doubt... he would be acquitted. There is no issue of preview," Tai said.

On why the charges should be split, Tai argued that the legal criteria for a joint trial had not been met.

He asserted that there was no factual connection between the two sets of charges, as they are independent of each other, with separate dealings and different types of items and contracts involved.

“Not only are the facts in issue for the Ong Beng Seng charges entirely irrelevant for the David Lum charges, the background facts and witnesses of fact for the two sets of charges are distinct,” he said in a written submission cited by ST.

Tai added that consecutive trials are carried out all the time, and it is common practice for the prosecution to proceed with some charges at trial and not others.

Joint trial granted by judge

After considering the arguments, the judge granted Iswaran’s application for a joint trial.

The judge explained that both sets of charges allegedly arose out of Iswaran’s duties as a public servant, and constitute "a series of offences of the same or a similar character".

The hearing lasted more than seven hours.

When approached by reporters afterwards, Iswaran reportedly told them, “Thank you for coming, everyone. Sorry, it’s been a very long day.”

Top image from S Iswaran / Facebook