An investigation has been launched by Singapore’s anti-graft agency into a case involving the city state’s transport minister, a rare high-level probe in a nation that prides itself on a government free from corruption.
The Southeast Asian city-state that pays its ministers the highest salaries in the world to discourage corruption, prides itself on its clean reputation and is presently 5th on Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perception Index. Graft investigations in Singapore involving ministers are rare.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a statement on Wednesday that he had requested the transport minister S. Iswaran to take leave of absence until investigations are completed in an anti-graft agency investigation. Without elaborating on the specifics of the case, Prime Minister Lee said that Iswaran was among several unnamed individuals presently assisting Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in investigations. He added that Senior Minister of State Chee Hong Tat would be the acting minister for transport. Iswaran was also overseeing the trade relations of Singapore.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau stated that it was interviewing the minister who was assisting in a case but did not provide further details. The announcement comes weeks following a state review of allegations made against two other cabinet ministers with regard to their rental of government-owned colonial bungalows. Neither Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam nor Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan was asked to go on leave as a review led by a senior member of Prime Minister Lee’s cabinet found no basis in allegations of abuse of power and corruption against them.
The Harvard-educated politician, Iswaran has worn several hats in government since his political entry at the 1997 elections which include stints at the ministries for trade and industry, home affairs, education, communications and information prior to which he was senior vice president and managing director at state investor Temasek Holdings.
