Singapore has issued an arrest warrant against billionaire Ong Beng Seng, who owns several resorts in the Maldives.

According to reliable foreign media reports, the arrest warrant for Ong, owner of Hotel Properties Limited (HPL), was issued today as part of an investigation into allegations of corruption against Singapore's Transport Minister Subramanyam Iswaran.

The case is being investigated by the Corrupt Practice Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

Singapore-listed Hotel Properties said no charges had been laid against Ong and that the billionaire tycoon would surrender his passport to the CPIB upon returning to Singapore.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong earlier this week said he had ordered Iswaran to take a leave of absence pending the completion of the probe.

The CPIB announced earlier this week that Iswaran was assisting with an investigation. The anticorruption agency did not provide details on the nature of the probe.

The probe marks the first anticorruption investigation involving a cabinet minister in Singapore since the 1980s.

Singapore touts clean governance as one of its major selling points as a business hub. The Southeast Asian country ranked as the fifth least corrupt country in 2022, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

Ong, who was born into a wealthy Malaysian family, made his fortune in shipping insurance in the early 1970s, before moving into oil trading, property and hotels.

The 79-year-old tycoon presides over more than three dozen hotels and resorts, including the Four Seasons and Hard Rock Hotels. In 2008, he played a major role in bringing the annual Formula One night racing competition to the city.

Last year, Forbes named Ong and his wife Christina as the 24th richest people in Singapore.

The Group has interests in 38 hotels under prestigious hospitality brands such as Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, COMO Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group, Six Senses Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International. In addition, the Group also manages its own portfolio of hotels under well-established brands such as Hard Rock Hotels and Concorde Hotels & Resorts.

The Group owns hotels, resorts and shopping galleries in 15 countries, namely, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives, Seychelles, Vanuatu, the United States of America, Bhutan, Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, Italy and Sri Lanka.

As a testament to its quality accommodation, the hotels have been awarded various awards and accolades, for example, Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru, Four Seasons Maldives Private Island at Voavah and Gili Lankanfushi Maldives were recently featured in Condé Nast Traveller ‘The Best Hotels in the Maldives’ guide.