Former minister S Iswaran has been sentenced to 12 months’ jail in a landmark case. No public servant can stay ignorant of the expectation not to accept valuable gifts from people with whom they have official dealings, says SMU associate professor of law Eugene K B Tan.
New: You can now listen to articles.SINGAPORE: The paramount importance of trust and confidence in public institutions was writ large on Thursday , in thefor obtaining gifts as a public servant from two businessmen. The custodial sentence meted was nearly twice the six to seven months sought by the public prosecutor and far more than the eight weeks the defence had argued for during the trial last week, either of which would result in a “manifestly inadequate sentence” in the judge’s view.
No public servant can stay ignorant of the expectation not to accept valuable gifts from people with whom they have official dealings, or the consequences otherwise. The way Singapore approaches public sector integrity, such as the giving or receipt of gifts, may strike some as unduly austere with little or no room for customary practices and business norms elsewhere.
If gifts are needed to “lubricate” official dealings, we would be on our way down where incorruptibility is concerned. And where gifts are unavoidable, there are longstanding and clear rules on what then needs to be done, including making the necessary declaration and/or recusal from decision-making.
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