Singapore, Aug 1 (PTI) Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will deliver a ministerial statement in Parliament on Wednesday regarding the corruption probe involving Indian-origin Transport Minister S Iswaran as well as the resignation of two ruling party lawmakers over a cheating scandal.
Iswaran, 61, was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on July 11 in a case relating to the globally popular Formula 1 events hosted in Singapore.
He is out on bail and placed on a leave of absence, Channel News Asia reported on Tuesday.
Less than a week later, former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and Member of Parliament (MP) Cheng Li Hui resigned from Parliament and the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) on July 17 after the pair’s extramarital affair came to light.
Prime Minister Lee’s statement on Wednesday will likely tackle the questions posed to him on the CPIB investigation and related matters, The Straits Times newspaper reported, citing the order paper released by Parliament.
Several MPs have also filed questions on the CPIB probe for the parliamentary session.
Member of Parliament Tan Wu Meng has asked for the timeline of the investigation and about the gap between the prime minister’s concurrence for the opening of formal investigations on July 6 and the actual commencement of investigations on July 11 into Iswaran’s case.
Opposition Workers’ Party (WP) MPs have asked questions on the timing of announcements related to the probe and why Iswaran’s arrest was not made public immediately.
The CPIB probe into Iswaran also involves billionaire hotelier Ong Beng Seng, the man widely credited with bringing F1 racing to Singapore.
Ong, 77, is a Malaysian based in Singapore and owns the rights to the Singapore Grand Prix and is chairman of race promoter Singapore GP.
Iswaran and Ong are known to be key figures in making Singapore’s pitch to become a part of the Formula One circuit.
Questions on the process behind awarding the contract to run the F1 Singapore Grand Prix for another seven years have also been filed, and if the Ministry of Trade and Industry was reviewing this contract “in light of new information that has emerged relating to possible conflicts of interest in the decision-making process”, the report said. PTI GS GRS AKJ GRS GRS
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