Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng pleaded guilty to one charge of abetting the obstruction of justice on Monday in part of a landmark case that led to the jailing of former transport minister S. Iswaran for obtaining valuable items as a public servant last year.
However, both the prosecution and defence agreed to grant Ong judicial mercy given his chronic illness, and argued for him to be fined in lieu of imprisonment. He will be sentenced on Aug 15.
A second charge of abetting an offence was also taken into consideration.
Judicial mercy gives courts the authority to give a more lenient sentence in exceptional mitigating circumstances, such as a terminal illness or when imprisonment could pose a high risk of endangering a life.
The defence submitted that Ong suffers from multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer that affects his blood plasma cells and renders him immuno-compromised.
