Tycoon Ong Beng Seng—who is embroiled in a court case related to the corruption scandal of a former Singapore minister—is stepping down as managing director of Hotel Properties.
Ong, 79, is scheduled to plead guilty next week to charges related to the offences of former transport minister S. Iswaran, who was convicted in October of breaking the law for receiving gifts from the businessman.
Hotel Properties said early Monday that Ong “wishes to devote more time to manage his medical conditions.” He will not be seeking re-election as board director at the upcoming shareholders’ meeting on April 29, according to a regulatory filing. The company’s shares rose 4.7% in midmorning trading in Singapore.
In October, prosecutors charged Ong for abetting ex-transport minister S. Iswaran over two flights, a night’s stay at the Four Seasons hotel in Doha, along with Formula-1 tickets. Ong—whose company Singapore GP is the organizer of the Formula 1 night race in Singapore—is out on bail. Besides grappling with the court case, Ong is also currently battling a rare type of bone marrow cancer.
Ong and wife Christina are the controlling shareholders of Hotel Properties, which has a portfolio of 38 hotels in 17 countries, including the Four Seasons in Singapore. The couple also has interests in London-listed handbag maker Mulberry. They are among the wealthiest in the city-state with a combined net worth of $1.7 billion, according to the list of Singapore’s 50 richest published by Forbes in September.
Malaysia-born Ong is among the prominent deal makers in the city-state. In November, a unit of Hotel Properties bought out the rest of Concorde Hotel in Singapore’s main shopping strip. Earlier this year, another subsidiary divested their shares in shopping mall operator Paragon REIT for an undisclosed amount so that the group can focus on redeveloping three of its adjoining prime properties in the Orchard Road area, a project that analysts estimate could cost between S$1 billion ($740 million) and S$2 billion.
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