If the defence asked for super-lenient of a few weeks; the prosecution pretending to be aggressive mean guy asked for a "huge" 6-7months. Now the judge thinks both were manifestly too lenient, and meted out a full year sentence. Even so, given that the charges being considered were only a fraction of what might be leveled against the former minister, the conviction might have been much worse in all fairness. Could it be that people in the defence and prosecution alike were actually maneuvering to keep the punishment as light as possible on account of the former ministerial heft of the accused?
Dear Iswaran sir, stay strong. 12 months is very short and will pass quickly. Singapore prison nowadays is very welfare, food is of course not what you're used to, but its basically like normal HDB cai fan. Just treat this 12 months as a extended holiday paid for by Singaporeans and if you have good behaviour, you might even be let off earlier. Stay Strong Sir! May God Bless you and your Family Abundantly! 🙂
Billionaire hotelier Mr. Ong Beng Seng had been summoned to court the next day on Oct 4th 2024, charged by the prosecutor on two counts: 1) Abetment of offences under Section 165 of the Penal code - Offering large amounts $$$ of gifts and benefits to a public official in service when not supposed to do so; 2) Abetment of offences under Section 204A of the Penal code - Abetting the Obstruction of justice by making a phone call to inform the public official concerned that the CPIB had confiscated the free flight ticket details and manifest to Doha, Qatar, thereby prompting the public official to take measures to prevent detection of 'bribery' by the CPIB ahead of their investigations by requesting Mr Ong to issue ex-Minister for Transport S.Iswaran with a receipt from his private company for the 'free' flight tickets (including return ticket) to Doha which Mr Iswaran paid back in full. Both are equally culpable!
How much time will he physically spend in changi prison? What will his jail conditions be? Will he be let out on tagging or undergo medical treatments during his sentence? Who will be next? Desmond ?
Well, this clearly showed that the judge is a ........ NO NONSENSE JUDGE. Ong Beng Seng will also recieve a very heavy sentence if it's this SAME judge.
May not be the same judge but the prosecution team will pushing for the maximum sentence while the defence will be more realistic with their pleadings. All in, this is damn bad news for Ong Beng Seng who will may be facing 2 years imprisonment for ‘belanja’ his buddy.
