Singapore to review Malaysian tycoon Ong Beng Seng’s permanent resident status after sentencing

"ICA will review Mr Ong Beng Seng's PR (permanent residency) since he has been convicted and sentenced," the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said, as quoted by AsiaOne.

It noted that Singapore PRs who have been convicted of an offense will have their status reviewed.

Ong, 79, was fined the maximum amount a district court can impose, in place of a three-month jail term, for abetting former Transport Minister S. Iswaran in the obstruction of justice, Channel News Asia reported.

Delivering the sentence on Friday, Principal District Judge Lee Lit Cheng said judicial mercy was warranted as imprisonment would pose a serious risk to Ong’s life as he suffers from incurable malignant cancer and is immunosuppressed, leaving him vulnerable to severe infections.

Ong, a Malaysian citizen, moved to Singapore in 1950 when he was just four years old. He married prominent businesswoman Christina Fu in 1972 and later joined her father Peter Fu’s oil trading firm, where he amassed a fortune that he later used to invest in property development, according to The Straits Times.

Ong established Hotel Properties Limited in 1981 and the firm was listed in the city-state the following year. He is widely recognized for playing a key role in bringing the Formula 1 night race to Singapore in 2008. He owns the rights to the Singapore Grand Prix.

Ong and his wife made the Forbes’ 2024 billionaire list with an estimated combined net worth of US$1.7 billion, though they were not featured in this year’s rankings.