H15 Hotel Properties Limited says managing director, Ong Beng Seng, has been asked to provide information in a corruption probe that's involving S Iswaran, the transport minister.
According to HPL, no charges have been filed against Ong. The company says that Ong will be travelling from July 14 and will be surrendering his passport to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau upon his return.
"He has been given a notice of arrest and has posted bail of $100,000," says HPL in its announcement to the stock exchange.
HPL says Ong is cooperating fully with CPIB and has provided the information requested. "As this is an ongoing matter, he is unable to provide further details at this point," says HPL.
Last month, HPL has reportedly mooted a proposal to redevelop a string of its properties located on the western end of Orchard Road.
Via his listed entity HPL, Ong owns a portfolio of 38 hospitality assets in 15 countries, ranging from Singapore to South Africa, from Seychelles to the UK.
The hotels and resorts are under brands such as Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International and COMO Hotels & Resorts.
Over the years, HPL has also developed residential properties such as Cuscaden Residences, Scotts 28, Nassim Jade and Four Seasons Park.
Besides his hospitality assets, Ong is better known for helping to bring in the F1 franchise into Singapore under a deal struck in 2007. He controls the Singapore F1 organiser, Singapore GP.
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Besides government sponsorship, various big corporates have been roped in as sponsors of the event, including Singapore Telecommunications Z74 , Singapore Airlines C6L , and UBS.
Positioned as the first "night race", the annual F1 weekend every September since 2008 has been a key event of the race calendar, attracting at least tens of thousands of fans each time round.
Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua of The Edge Singapore
Various big companies have chosen to hold regional conferences or events around the same time.
However, the annual event required road closures for at least a week, affecting businesses and people in the city area.
In Jan 2022, following a break of two years because of the pandemic, Singapore renewed its agreement to host F1 for at least seven more years from 2022 to 2028.
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The event's renewal will "sustain Singapore's reputation as a global city," said Iswaran in a statement then. Prior renewals were for either a four, or five-year period.
Iswaran, meanwhile, has been placed on leave of absence pending investigations. He was arrested on July 11 but has been released on bail.
The last time a full Singapore minister was involved in graft-related investigations was then Minister for National Development Teh Cheang Wan, who was alleged to have received $1 million from private companies buying government land. He committed suicide.
H15 HPL shares closed the day at $3.76, down 2.59% for the day. It traded as low as $3.59.
