Singapore: Jailed ex-minister Iswaran moved to house arrest

A former senior minister in Singapore’s government, who was jailed following a high-profile trial last year, has been allowed to serve the remainder of his 12-month sentence from home.

Subramaniam Iswaran was imprisoned on 7 October after he pleaded guilty to accepting gifts worth more than S$403,000 ($300,000; £240,000) while in office, as well as obstructing the course of justice.

Iswaran’s case gripped Singapore, where a corruption case involving a public official is rare. The island nation that serves as South East Asia’s financial hub prides itself with its squeaky clean image.

He was transferred to home arrest on Friday, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) told local media.

In Singapore, inmates may be transferred to home detention after being assessed on factors such as their conduct in prison and response to rehabilitation.

Authorities said Iswaran was found to be “of low risk of re-offending, did not commit any institutional offence in prison, and has strong family support”.

While in home detention he will be required to wear an electronic monitoring tag and report to prison authorities for counselling.

Local broadcaster Channel News Asia reported seeing Iswaran having a meal in his home on Friday.

Iswaran’s 12-month prison sentence was longer than what both his defence team and prosecutors sought during his trial.

During his sentencing in October, the judge said that public officials like Iswaran should also be seen as having “greater culpability in abusing their position to obtain valuable gifts”.

Iswaran is the first political office-holder in Singapore to be tried in court in the past 50 years.

The last time a minister faced a corruption probe was in 1986, when development minister Teh Cheang Wan was investigated for accepting bribes. He killed himself before he was charged.