‘We will not sweep anything under the carpet’ even if damaging: DPM Wong on Iswaran’s case

The government and the PAP will not sweep anything under the carpet, even if disclosure is potentially embarrassing or damaging, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media, he stressed that he and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong are “fully committed” to keeping and preserving the trust that the people have in the government.

His comments come after the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) released a statement on Wednesday morning that Transport Minister S. Iswaran is assisting with an investigation into a case that the anti-graft body had uncovered.

DPM Wong said: “We will maintain a tough, zero tolerance stance against corruption. We will continue to uphold stringent standards of honesty, integrity and probity that Singaporeans expect of their political leaders.

“We will investigate all cases that come up and whichever way the facts eventually fall, they will be taken to their logical conclusion.”

How Mr Iswaran became involved in the investigation

In May, the CPIB had updated PM Lee on an investigation it was doing on an unrelated case, and the bureau took some time to dive into the details, DPM Wong revealed.

When the CPIB updated PM Lee on July 5, it raised the need to interview Mr Iswaran as part of further investigations. DPM Wong was also kept in the loop.

Within a day, on July 6, PM Lee gave his concurrence to the director of CPIB to open formal investigations. This started on July 11.

DPM Wong said he knows Singaporeans are concerned about the matter, but was unable to provide any more information.

He asked that the investigation be allowed to take its course, and that people should refrain from any further speculation at this juncture.

“But what I would say is that this is concrete proof of how we do things in Singapore and how our system works,” he added.

“We have always upheld a clean and incorrupt system of government, and our track record on this over the decades is clear and evident to all.”

The CPIB will put out its findings in due course when they are ready, DPM Wong added.

He said: “I can assure everyone that CPIB will do a full, thorough and independent investigation on this case.”

PM Lee has asked Mr Iswaran to take a leave of absence from his ministerial and MP duties until the investigation is complete.

In Mr Iswaran’s absence, Senior Minister of State Chee Hong Tat will be Acting Minister for Transport.

Why this is different from the Ridout saga

On June 28, it was revealed that a CPIB probe, ordered by PM Lee, had found no evidence of corruption or criminal wrongdoing in the rentals of Ridout Road state properties by ministers K. Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan.

The findings were submitted to Parliament by PM Lee, together with a report of a review he had asked Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean to conduct.

CPIB said then that it found no preferential treatment given to the ministers and their spouses, and no disclosure of privileged information in the processing of the rental transactions involving two black-and-white bungalows near Queensway.

That the CPIB was investigating the matter was not made public, and the ministers were not asked to take a leave of absence.

Asked about the difference between the Ridout investigations and the current probe, DPM Wong said: “I can understand why questions are asked……but the two cases are very different.”

“For the Ridout case, there were questions raised in public, including various allegations online about the two ministers,” he said.

And while the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) had already put out a statement to say that the transactions complied with all of the procedures, questions continued to be raised, including in Parliament, he added.

The two ministers themselves also wanted and asked for an independent review of the matter.

PM Lee agreed and asked CPIB to investigate. And the investigations eventually concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the ministers.

The findings were published and there was a full accounting of the matter in Parliament, DPM Wong said.

“This case is different. This case is completely driven by CPIB from the beginning; there was no public complaint,” he said.

It was CPIB that discovered the matter through their initial findings and investigations and they felt that there was a need to interview Minister Iswaran as part of further investigations, he added.

PM Lee agreed that formal investigations should proceed and that is why he asked Minister Iswaran to take a leave of absence, DPM Wong said.