Malaysian hotel tycoon Ong Beng Seng arrived in Singapore's state court on October 4, 2024.
Hotel tycoon Ong Beng Seng plans to plead guilty to a charge related to the crimes of former transport minister S. Iswaran, who was convicted in October for violating the law for violating the gift of a merchant.
ONG, 79, also agreed to consider a second charge at a court hearing on April 2 for a sentence, according to a statement from Hotel Real Estate.
In October, prosecutors accused ONG professor former Minister of Transport S. Iswaran of two flights, accommodation in the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, and Formula One. Ong (the Singapore company is the organizer of Singapore Formula 1 night competition) has been released on bail.
Hotel Real Estate said ONG will temporarily continue to serve as managing director of a listed company in Singapore. “The Nomination Committee has evaluated the above and believes that at this juncture, ONG continues to be suitable for the duties and responsibilities of managing directors,” the company said in a statement issued late Friday.
It added that the committee will continue to monitor the situation and reevaluate the suitability of ONG to become the company's managing director in the future. In addition to resolving court cases, ONG is currently fighting a rare type of bone marrow cancer.
Ong and his wife Christina are controlling shareholders of hotel real estate, with a portfolio of 38 hotels in 17 countries, including four seasons in Singapore. The couple also have an interest in London-listed handbag maker Mulberry. According to Singapore's 50 Richest List of Singapore, they are the richest in city-country Forbes September.
Born in Malaysia, ONG is one of the famous trading manufacturers in the city's country. In November, a hotel real estate acquired the Concorde hotel, which is the main shopping strip in Singapore. Earlier this year, another subsidiary divested its stake in shopping mall operator Paragon REIT, an undisclosed amount, so the group could focus on redeveloping its three adjacent major properties in the Orchard Road area, which the project estimated could cost S$1 billion ($740 million) ($740 million) and S$2 billion.
