Singapore-based tycoon Ong Beng Seng battling bone marrow cancer

Ong, facing charges related to former transport minister S Iswaran’s case, is undergoing chemotherapy

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Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng arrives at Singapore’s state court in 2024. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:45pm, 8 Feb 2025

Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, who is facing two charges related to former Singapore transport minister S Iswaran’s case, has been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer.

Two people close to Ong confirmed his condition, with one saying he has multiple myeloma. This is a rare type of bone marrow cancer characterised by abnormal expansion of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow.

The 79-year-old has been undergoing chemotherapy and has previously asked the court if he could travel abroad for medical treatment.

A spokesperson for Ong and Hotel Properties Limited, where Ong is managing director, declined to comment on his health. Apart from his prominence as a hotelier, Ong is widely known as the man who brought Formula One to Singapore in 2008.

Ong, who is Malaysian but based in Singapore, was handed two charges related to Iswaran on October 4 last year.

The first charge accuses him of abetting the former minister in obtaining an all-expenses paid trip to Doha worth about S$20,850 (US$15,500) in December 2022.

The other charge alleges that Ong abetted the obstruction of justice by intentionally aiding Iswaran in May 2023, when the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau had begun its probe, by paying S$5,700 to Singapore GP for a business class flight ticket from Doha to Singapore over the same trip.