Billionaire Ong Beng Seng will retain his Singapore permanent resident status following a review despite being convicted of a crime, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority has said.
“Instead, he has been issued a Letter of Warning to put him on notice that any future adverse conduct will render him liable for revocation of his permanent resident status,” the authority told The Straits Times on Monday.
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Malaysian hotel tycoon Ong Beng Seng (L) arrives at the State Court in Singapore on Oct. 4, 2024. Photo by AFP |
The update follows an August statement from the authority noting that all Singapore permanent residents convicted of an offence would have their permanent status reviewed.
Ong, a Malaysian citizen, was fined SGD30,000 (US$20,000) on August 15 after pleading guilty to abetting the obstruction of justice in a case involving former transport minister S. Iswaran, Channel News Asia reported.
The 79-year-old was fined the maximum amount a district court can impose, in place of a three-month jail term, for the crime.
The property tycoon admitted to arranging for Iswaran to be billed SGD5,700 for a business class flight from Doha to Singapore.
This came after the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau found the flight manifest while probing another matter linked to Ong’s associates.
A second charge of abetting Iswaran in obtaining gifts was taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court agreed with both the prosecution and defence that judicial mercy should be exercised due to Ong’s ill health. He was diagnosed with advanced multiple myeloma in 2020.
Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said in September that foreigners who break Singapore’s laws or engage in undesirable conduct may have their passes or permits cancelled and be barred from re-entering the country. This policy also applies to permanent residency and work pass holders.
“There is a framework to assess such cases, based on the facts, the nature and severity of the incident, the person’s family roots here, and the contributions of the person to Singapore,” he said.
Ong moved to Singapore in 1950 when he was four years old. He married prominent businesswoman Christina Fu in 1972 and later joined her father Peter Fu’s oil trading firm, where he amassed a fortune that he later used to invest in property development.
Ong established Hotel Properties Limited in 1981 and the firm was listed in the city-state the following year. He is widely recognized for playing a key role in bringing the Formula 1 night race to Singapore in 2008. He owns the rights to the Singapore Grand Prix.
Ong and his wife made the Forbes’ 2024 billionaire list with an estimated combined net worth of US$1.7 billion, though they were not featured in this year’s rankings.
