Over 50 witnesses, including Ong Beng Seng, listed for Iswaran's trial

Former transport minister S Iswaran, who is facing charges of accepting gifts and corruption, requested for the prosecution to hand over all the statements of the witnesses it intends to call at trial.

More than 50 witnesses were listed for the trial, including property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, whom Iswaran is accused of corruptly obtaining gratification from, according to CNA,

Iswaran's lawyers, led by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, had previously failed to get the statements during a June hearing.

According to CNA, a team of prosecutors led by Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong objected strongly to Singh's case.

Iswaran currently faces 35 charges comprising 32 counts of obtaining valuables as a public servant, two counts of corruption and one of obstructing justice.

These relate to his dealings with property tycoon Ong Beng Seng and Lum Kok Seng, the managing director of Singapore-listed Lum Chang Holdings.

Claimed Iswaran is singled out: Defence

During a hearing on Jul. 5, Singh spent hours trying to convince the judge to order the prosecution to provide all statements from its witnesses, CNA reported.

Singh argued that his client was entitled to the prosecution's facts and evidence supporting the charges, along with the statements he gave, and that the prosecution did not have discretion over what to share.

Singh questioned how he could build the defence case with the limited information provided.

"The whole point of pre-trial discovery is to respond in a fashion so that your honour knows what are the issues in the case," he said.

"Why is my client being singled out? And with the effect that he would be discriminated against, by being refused what everybody else gets?"

Iswaran's application for a joint trial for all criminal charges against him was previously granted on May 8, 2024.

Singh claimed that the prosecution was prepared to give them conditioned statements when they wanted to proceed with the trial involving Lum first.

However, after the defence was granted its application for a joint trial, the prosecution took the position for the first time that they were under no obligation to provide conditioned statements, Singh claimed.

"Which means they were not even going to share the evidence with us for David Lum," he said

"But clearly, they didn't want to share the evidence with us for all other witnesses, including Ong Beng Seng. This means that if they were going to lead oral evidence for 55 witnesses, this trial is going to go on for months and months and months into next year, and in my respectful submission, I'm not even sure it will be done next year."

Singh argued that the inference to be drawn is that the prosecution decided not to provide the defence with conditioned statements because it failed to "push the Ong Beng Seng charges away to some indeterminate date".

Do not accept what defence said: Prosecution

The prosecution said that Singh was "putting words in the mouth" of the prosecution

Tai denied Singh's allegation that the prosecution wants to "conduct trial by ambush".

He said the prosecution had made the required disclosures, noting that in most corruption cases, the giver and receiver of the corruption are "potentially hostile witnesses," making it very important for the court to hear the evidence from their mouths instead of through statements.

The prosecution said they had served on the defence the 35 charges, the prosecution's list of witnesses and exhibits, and 66 statements recorded from Iswaran, amounting to 1,156 pages and including exhibits like emails and messages.

They also obliged the defence's request for some electronic evidence, such as messages and WhatsApp chats Iswaran had with Ong and Lum.

The prosecution said they also provided 37 witness statements recorded from seven prosecution witnesses, including statements from Ong, Lum and Iswaran's wife, Taylor Kay Mary.

The judge will make a decision at a later date.

Top photo by Singapore GP Ptd Ltd and Mothership