Iswaran was sentenced to 1 year's jail on Oct. 3. Here's what happened when he was sentenced.

Former transport minister S Iswaran was sentenced to one year's jail on Oct. 3, after he pleaded guilty on Sep. 24 to five criminal charges relating to him receiving gifts as a public servant.

He is the first cabinet minister in Singapore to be imprisoned.

Here's what happened:

11:34am

Over 50 people, mostly from the media, were waiting outside the main entrance of the Supreme Court.

Addressing the scrum, he said: "I have no comments at this point."

@mothershipsg Iswaran has been ordered to surrender himself at 4pm on Oct. 7, at the State Courts. #singapore #courts #tiktoksg #sgnews #sg ♬ original sound - Mothership

He left in a car with a member of his defence team.

11:23am

Davinder Singh left the court but declined to comment.

10:39am

Iswaran has been sentenced to one year in jail.

"I’m of the view it is appropriate to impose a sentence in excess of both parties’ positions," says Justice Vincent Hoong, noting that the sentences they both asked for were "manifestly inadequate".

The crowd gasped a little when he said "in excess of both parties' position".

The prosecution had asked for a jail sentence of six to seven months, while Iswaran's lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, asked for eight weeks.

Hoong approved Iswaran's application for his sentence to commence on Oct. 7.

Singh said he will take instructions from Iswaran on his possible next course of action.

Iswran remains on an S$800,000 bail.

10am

Hoong delivers his decision.

"Trust and confidence in public institutions are the bedrock of effective governance."

This can all too easily be undermined by the appearance that an individual public servant has fallen below the standards of integrity and accountability."

He added that people who hold public office are "conferred status and power by virtue of such office”, and obtaining gifts from persons who have a connection to their public duties is an "abuse of power".

“General deterrence assumes centre stage in sentencing,” Hoong said.

9:48am

All attendees, including Iswaran, are seated in the courtroom

His family sat in the middle row of the public gallery.

The courtroom is filled with people, with 45 members of the public sitting in the public gallery.

9:22am

Iswaran arrives at the Supreme Court.

@mothershipsg Iswaran pleaded guilty to four charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code on Sep. 24. #singapore #tiktoksg #sgnews #sg ♬ original sound - Mothership

He was swarmed by the reporters outside the court as he arrived.

8:54am

All tickets for admission into the hearing have been given out.

A sign has been put outside the courtroom: "We regret to inform you that we have issued all the queue tickets for the above hearing."

People without queue numbers were turned away by the security outside the courtroom.

8am

A crowd, mostly members of the media, has started forming outside the entrance of the Supreme Court.

As of 8am, 38 out of 45 tickets for entry to the courtroom’s public gallery had been given out.

Members of the public and media were outside the Supreme Court as early as 6am.

@mothershipsg Former Minister for Transport S Iswaran pleaded guilty on Sep. 24, after his corruption charges were amended. #sgnews #supremecourt #iswaran #tiktoksg ♬ original sound - Mothership

Sim, a retiree, arrived at 6:10am.

Clad in a shirt with images of oranges, he said he hopes Iswaran will have “the best of all the luck”.

“I wish him that he will have a better outcome,” he said

A member of the public told Mothership it's his first time visiting the court and he's here to "witness history in the making".

7am

@mothershipsg S Iswaran's wife left the High Court after getting her queue number. #singapore #tiktoksg #sgnews #sg ♬ original sound - Mothership

Admission tickets to the hearing were handed out to the queue just after 7am.

The queue has gone after 23 people received their tickets as at 7:07am.

Previously, 45 people were allowed to attend the hearing on Sep. 24, when Iswaran pleaded guilty.

6:16am

Outside the Supreme Court, a queue formed as early as 6:16am.

Among them was a retiree surnamed Sim, who had attended the Sep. 24 hearing where Iswaran pleaded guilty.

Iswaran's wife, Kay Mary Taylor, also joined the queue, accompanied by a small group.

Background to the case

Pleaded guilty after charges amended

Iswaran pleaded guilty to five charges on Sep. 24 after an earlier set of charges were amended by the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).

The prosecution stated that they would proceed on five charges: four under Section 165 of the Penal Code and one charge of obstruction of justice.

Two of the initial charges, for alleged offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, were amended to offences under section 165 of the Penal Code, which makes it an offence for public servants to accept or obtain valuable items from people they have dealings with in their official capacity.

Iswaran pleaded guilty to one charge of obstruction of justice, which related to him repaying S$5,700 to Singapore GP Pte Ltd — the cost of his business class ticket for a Dec. 11 flight from Doha to Singapore that he had taken at hotelier Ong Beng Seng's expense through Singapore GP.

He has paid back more than S$380,000 to the state and will forfeit the items he received.

Sentencing

During the Sep. 24 hearing, Iswaran's defence lawyer Davinder Singh asked the prosecution for an eight-week jail term for him, citing his contributions to Singapore as a former transport minister.

He also highlighted that the offences caused no harm, or at worst, minimal harm, and that there was no suggestion that any third party suffered losses.

However, Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong said the prosecution rejected any suggestion that there was no harm or little harm to the government's reputation.

He asked for a six to seven-month jail term for Iswaran, adding that the sentence must signal to the public about the severity of the offence, and that an eight-week sentence would give "entirely the wrong signal".

Top photo by Mothership