KUALA LUMPUR: Former Singapore transport minister S. Iswaran, who has been charged with corruption, has been slapped with eight new charges. He now faces 35 charges in total.
According to Singapore's Straits Times, Iswaran pleaded not guilty to the new charges framed under Section 165 of the Penal Code which makes it an offence for civil servants to accept gifts from a person involved with them in an official capacity.
Iswaran is accused of receiving goods valued at SGD18,956.94, including bottles of whisky, golf clubs, and a Brompton bicycle between November 2021 and November 2022.
He allegedly received the goods from the managing director of Lum Chang Building Contractors, a company that received a contract from the Land Transport Authority for addition and alteration works to the Tanah Merah MRT Station and existing viaducts.
The company's construction arm, according to the report, has carried out multi-billion dollar projects in Singapore.
Before this, Iswaran faced 27 charges including two for corruption.
The charges are linked to alleged bribes he received from billionaire Ong Beng Seng as an inducement to advance the tycoon's interests in agreements related to the Singapore Grand Prix.
These bribes include tickets for the Singapore GP, football matches, and musicals amounting to over SGD200,000 between November 2015 and December 2021.
Iswaran, who was appointed a full minister in 2011, resigned from his post in January. He also quit as a member of Parliament and the People's Action Party.