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A former senior minister in Singapore’s government, who was jailed following a high-profile trial last year, has been allowed to serve the remainder of his 12-month sentence from home.<\/p>\n
Subramaniam Iswaran was imprisoned on 7 October after he pleaded guilty to accepting gifts worth more than S$403,000 ($300,000; \u00a3240,000) while in office, as well as obstructing the course of justice.<\/p>\n
Iswaran’s case gripped Singapore, where a corruption case involving a public official is rare. The island nation that serves as South East Asia’s financial hub prides itself with its squeaky clean image.<\/p>\n
He was transferred to home arrest on Friday, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) told local media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In Singapore, inmates may be transferred to home detention after being assessed on factors such as their conduct in prison and response to rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
Authorities said Iswaran was found to be “of low risk of re-offending, did not commit any institutional offence in prison, and has strong family support”.<\/p>\n
While in home detention he will be required to wear an electronic monitoring tag and report to prison authorities for counselling.<\/p>\n
Local broadcaster Channel News Asia reported seeing Iswaran having a meal in his home on Friday.<\/p>\n
Iswaran’s 12-month prison sentence was longer than what both his defence team and prosecutors sought during his trial.<\/p>\n
During his sentencing in October,<\/b> the judge said that public officials like Iswaran should also be seen as having “greater culpability in abusing their position to obtain valuable gifts”.<\/p>\n
Iswaran is the first political office-holder in Singapore to be tried in court in the past 50 years.<\/p>\n
The last time a minister faced a corruption probe was in 1986, when development minister Teh Cheang Wan was investigated for accepting bribes. He killed himself before he was charged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n