Singapore billionaire Ong Beng Seng involved in illcit Maldivian island corruption case

[Guest Guest]

https://www.occrp.org/en/paradiseleased/files-implicate-president-vp-and-singapore-billionaire-in-dodgy-island-deal

 

Even by the standards of the Maldives, Fohtheyo Bodufushi is heartbreakingly beautiful.

From above, the island resembles an elongated teardrop, its center a solid green of wild coconut palms surrounded by a necklace of alabaster sand.

From tip to toe, it’s just 1.3 kilometers long, and it sits alone in a lagoon of stained-glass turquoise. Its barrier reef is the Maldives’ easternmost point, where the archipelago gives way to the Indian Ocean.

For Ong Beng Seng, a billionaire hotelier and one of Singapore’s richest men, this spot presented an opportunity. Here, just 80 kilometers from the Maldivian capital of Male and its international airport, was a true, unspoiled, honest-to-God island paradise.

The price was reasonable, too: just US$ 5 million for a lease on the island. The deal even included a second island, Lavadhoo, for free.

Too bad the arrangement was likely illegal.

 

The leasing of Fohtheyo Bodufushi and Lavadhoo was among scores of dirty deals done in 2014 and 2015 under the watch of the Maldives’ former tourism minister, Ahmed Adeeb, who concurrently served a stint as the island nation’s vice president. Adeeb is now behind bars after engaging in an orgy of corruption that saw swathes of the country doled out in no-bid leases to tourism developers. Much of the money was then embezzled.

Ong Beng Seng’s two leases stand out in extraordinary detail thanks to a cache of leaked files obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

They show that the Singapore-based billionaire apparently showered Adeeb, his family, and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen with stays at luxury hotels in Singapore and the Maldives at the very same time that his company, Hotels Properties Limited (HPL), was expressing interest in the islands.

Singapore-based billionaire Ong Beng Seng.Credit: Vivek Prakash / Reuters

The documents show that Ong and another HPL executive apparently met personally with both Yameen and Adeeb at this time, and that the company dealt directly with the tourism minister when negotiating the deal. Completely sidestepped was a clear Maldivian legal requirement that island leases be given out via public tender. Ong and HPL have done business in the Maldives since at least the turn of the century, and currently operate eight resorts in the country under brands including Four Seasons and Holiday Inn. They were presumably aware of this legal requirement.

The files obtained by OCCRP include leaked text messages, time-stamped photographs, and even a receipt for the sale of Fohtheyo, all taken from Adeeb’s personal electronic devices.

Reporters were able to cross-reference Adeeb’s files with other documents that included an internal list of island leases from the country’s tourism ministry, as well as a bank account he and his associates used to embezzle the money paid for the islands.

The files allowed reporters to reconstruct, sometimes minute by minute, how the deal was put together. They show when the money was paid, and appear to show how it was then siphoned away by Adeeb and his companions.

President Yameen did not respond to questions sent by reporters. Adeeb also did not respond to questions sent via his lawyers.

Reporters sent detailed questions to Ong via his company, HPL, but received no reply. Reporters also sent three follow-up emails, called and texted Ong’s mobile phone, and sent messages via two separate website contact forms.

“Pls B My Guests”

Ong’s two new islands were the latest in a long series of international deals for the businessman, whose global holdings include the Hilton, Four Seasons, and Concorde hotels in Singapore, as well as properties in countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, Tanzania, Thailand, and Bhutan.

A dolphin leaps into the air near Fotheyo Bodufushi.Credit: Aubrey Belford

The newly leaked files reveal that his HPL obtained the leases to both Maldivian islands at roughly the same time in mid-2014, following at least two months of discussion with officials.

Records show that, as early as June 27, Adeeb spoke with Gan Kim Leng, a senior HPL executive, about potentially leasing Lavadhoo, a small island in the southern Maldives near the company’s COMO Maalifushi resort. The COMO brand is headed by Ong’s wife, Christina.

Almost three weeks later, Ong himself reached out to Adeeb, asking the tourism minister to come to Singapore. But first, Ong said, he was wondering if President Yameen and Adeeb would be interested in a stay at his Maalifushi resort.

“We will have 2 sea planes by next week,” Ong wrote, “pls b my guests.”

It’s unclear from the files whether Yameen and Adeeb accepted the offer. But this would not be their only opportunity to enjoy Ong’s hospitality.

[lonelyglobe]

I m sure he is not the only one, there must be more check conducted on these billionaires, have u wonder how they can get there? Hardwork does not make u a billionaire...

[Guest Wu Chen]

21 minutes ago, lonelyglobe said:

I m sure he is not the only one, there must be more check conducted on these billionaires, have u wonder how they can get there? Hardwork does not make u a billionaire...

 

Sometimes it’s not easy to check such misconduct.... it’s all interlaced like a spider web and who’s who all the way up to the higher beings are involved.  Cover up and more cover up leaving no trail.  

[Guest Closetted Skeleton]

Singapore has lots of dirty laundry waiting to be aired if the next GE makes historical change to our political landscape.

[Guest Guest]

1 hour ago, Guest Closetted Skeleton said:

Singapore has lots of dirty laundry waiting to be aired if the next GE makes historical change to our political landscape.

 

That's why the PM is so dead set to ensure that the previous and current Presidents remains former PAP party members. The President is the only person who can authorize the checks on the country's finances. That was what one of our most respected Presidents, Mr Ong Teng Cheong, did while he was still in office, at the chagrin of LKY then. But of course, now with PAP having all the powers in their hands, they can again write up another white paper to restrict the future President's executive authority. If they had proved themselves fully capable of manipulating the Presidential candidacy requirements to the extent that only ONE candidate in the entire Singapore is suitable in the previous PE, they will prove themselves to be fully capable of removing the executive powers bestowed on the President in the future. Good luck to Singapore.

[Guest chris]

8 hours ago, Guest Guest said:

https://www.occrp.org/en/paradiseleased/files-implicate-president-vp-and-singapore-billionaire-in-dodgy-island-deal

 

Even by the standards of the Maldives, Fohtheyo Bodufushi is heartbreakingly beautiful.

From above, the island resembles an elongated teardrop, its center a solid green of wild coconut palms surrounded by a necklace of alabaster sand.

From tip to toe, it’s just 1.3 kilometers long, and it sits alone in a lagoon of stained-glass turquoise. Its barrier reef is the Maldives’ easternmost point, where the archipelago gives way to the Indian Ocean.

For Ong Beng Seng, a billionaire hotelier and one of Singapore’s richest men, this spot presented an opportunity. Here, just 80 kilometers from the Maldivian capital of Male and its international airport, was a true, unspoiled, honest-to-God island paradise.

The price was reasonable, too: just US$ 5 million for a lease on the island. The deal even included a second island, Lavadhoo, for free.

Too bad the arrangement was likely illegal.

 

The leasing of Fohtheyo Bodufushi and Lavadhoo was among scores of dirty deals done in 2014 and 2015 under the watch of the Maldives’ former tourism minister, Ahmed Adeeb, who concurrently served a stint as the island nation’s vice president. Adeeb is now behind bars after engaging in an orgy of corruption that saw swathes of the country doled out in no-bid leases to tourism developers. Much of the money was then embezzled.

Ong Beng Seng’s two leases stand out in extraordinary detail thanks to a cache of leaked files obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

They show that the Singapore-based billionaire apparently showered Adeeb, his family, and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen with stays at luxury hotels in Singapore and the Maldives at the very same time that his company, Hotels Properties Limited (HPL), was expressing interest in the islands.

Singapore-based billionaire Ong Beng Seng.Credit: Vivek Prakash / Reuters

The documents show that Ong and another HPL executive apparently met personally with both Yameen and Adeeb at this time, and that the company dealt directly with the tourism minister when negotiating the deal. Completely sidestepped was a clear Maldivian legal requirement that island leases be given out via public tender. Ong and HPL have done business in the Maldives since at least the turn of the century, and currently operate eight resorts in the country under brands including Four Seasons and Holiday Inn. They were presumably aware of this legal requirement.

The files obtained by OCCRP include leaked text messages, time-stamped photographs, and even a receipt for the sale of Fohtheyo, all taken from Adeeb’s personal electronic devices.

Reporters were able to cross-reference Adeeb’s files with other documents that included an internal list of island leases from the country’s tourism ministry, as well as a bank account he and his associates used to embezzle the money paid for the islands.

The files allowed reporters to reconstruct, sometimes minute by minute, how the deal was put together. They show when the money was paid, and appear to show how it was then siphoned away by Adeeb and his companions.

President Yameen did not respond to questions sent by reporters. Adeeb also did not respond to questions sent via his lawyers.

Reporters sent detailed questions to Ong via his company, HPL, but received no reply. Reporters also sent three follow-up emails, called and texted Ong’s mobile phone, and sent messages via two separate website contact forms.

“Pls B My Guests”

Ong’s two new islands were the latest in a long series of international deals for the businessman, whose global holdings include the Hilton, Four Seasons, and Concorde hotels in Singapore, as well as properties in countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, Tanzania, Thailand, and Bhutan.

A dolphin leaps into the air near Fotheyo Bodufushi.Credit: Aubrey Belford

The newly leaked files reveal that his HPL obtained the leases to both Maldivian islands at roughly the same time in mid-2014, following at least two months of discussion with officials.

Records show that, as early as June 27, Adeeb spoke with Gan Kim Leng, a senior HPL executive, about potentially leasing Lavadhoo, a small island in the southern Maldives near the company’s COMO Maalifushi resort. The COMO brand is headed by Ong’s wife, Christina.

Almost three weeks later, Ong himself reached out to Adeeb, asking the tourism minister to come to Singapore. But first, Ong said, he was wondering if President Yameen and Adeeb would be interested in a stay at his Maalifushi resort.

“We will have 2 sea planes by next week,” Ong wrote, “pls b my guests.”

It’s unclear from the files whether Yameen and Adeeb accepted the offer. But this would not be their only opportunity to enjoy Ong’s hospitality.

 

willing seller, willing buyer, nothing wrong with this universal law.

 

only those who miss out on this deal are behaving like sour grapes,

namely social justice warriors. SJWs.

[Guest InBangkok]

Ong's sometimes less than transparent business activities go back decades. In the 1980s there was a scandal involving dodgy dealings in Australia when he purchased the Sydney Hilton from the billionaire crook and eventual jailbird Alan Bond. 

[Guest They RCorrupt to the Core]

Wonder who gets exclusive licence to run the whole business of F1 Night Race in Singapore even without any open tender? But more important are who the people in Sg that allowed such irregularities?

[Guest Scully]

13 minutes ago, Guest They RCorrupt to the Core said:

Wonder who gets exclusive licence to run the whole business of F1 Night Race in Singapore even without any open tender? But more important are who the people in Sg that allowed such irregularities?

Classified X-Files