By Bing Hong Lok
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s disgraced former transport minister S. Iswaran, jailed last year for obstructing justice and receiving more than $300,000 of gifts, will serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, local media reported on Friday.
Iswaran was the first former cabinet member to be jailed in Singapore after a high-profile trial that gripped the wealthy city state, which is famous for its clean governance.
He will serve the remaining eight months of his one-year sentence at home under specified conditions, which include curfew monitoring, counselling and use of an electronic tag, CNA and the Straits Times reported, citing the Singapore Prison Service.
The prisons service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“He has been assessed suitable for emplacement on the scheme, as he is of low risk of re-offending, did not commit any institutional offence in prison, and has strong family support,” the Straits Times quoted a prisons service spokesperson as saying.
Eligible prisoners are considered for home detention when they have served at least 14 days of a prison sentence longer than four weeks, the report said.
Iswaran was a cabinet member for 13 years and had held the trade, communications and transport portfolios. He pleaded guilty last year to four counts of improperly receiving more than $300,000 worth of gifts, and one of obstructing justice.
(Reporting by Bing Hong Lok; Editing by Martin Petty)
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