HPL requests trading halt ahead of Ong Beng Seng’s expected charging over Iswaran case
SINGAPORE: Hotel Properties Limited (HPL), the company owned by tycoon Ong Beng Seng, requested a trading halt on Friday morning (Oct 4) ahead of the billionaire’s scheduled court appearance.
The reason given for the trading halt was the pending release of an announcement, according to a Singapore Exchange notice submitted at about 7.45am.
The hotelier and Singapore GP head is expected to be charged on Friday afternoon over former Singapore transport minister S Iswaran’s case.
The charges appear to be for abetting one count each under Section 165 and Section 204A of the Penal Code. Section 165 relates to a public servant obtaining valuables while Section 204A pertains to obstructing justice.
Court records also indicated that the property tycoon is out on S$800,000 (US$617,000) bail.
Mr Ong, a Malaysian who is based in Singapore, was arrested in July 2023 and released on bail. No charges were previously filed against him.
The 78-year-old was named in Iswaran’s initial graft charges, which alleged that the then-transport minister had corruptly obtained from Mr Ong tickets to the 2022 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, as well as flights and a hotel stay in Doha.
