S ISWARAN v PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

Case Significance

S Iswaran v Public Prosecutor [2024] SGHC 123 is an ex tempore judgment delivered by Vincent Hoong J in the General Division of the High Court on 8 May 2024, in Criminal Motion No 16 of 2024. The applicant, Mr S Iswaran, applied for a joinder of all his charges under ss 133 and 134 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 (2020 Rev Ed), raising novel questions on the interpretation of those provisions in the context of a defence application for joinder. The applicant faced a total of 35 charges, of which 27 related to Mr Ong Beng Seng and fell into three categories. These included 24 charges under s 165 of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed) for obtaining valuable items from Mr Ong Beng Seng without consideration as a public servant, namely a Minister of the Government of Singapore, in connection with the applicant's official functions as chairman of or advisor to the F1 Steering Committee, alleged to have occurred between November 2015 and December 2021, and two charges under s 6(a) read with s 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1960 (2020 Rev Ed) for receiving items as inducement in relation to the applicant's principal.