On September 3, S Iswaran, the former transport minister of Singapore, faced a setback as his third request for the prosecution to disclose all witness statements was rejected. The 62-year-old politician had sought to raise two legal questions before the Court of Appeal but was informed that the necessary conditions for such a referral were not fulfilled.

Iswaran previously attempted this disclosure request two times, both of which were dismissed first by an assistant registrar at a criminal case disclosure conference and subsequently by a High Court judge. He is confronted with a significant number of charges—35 in total—consisting of 32 counts related to the acquisition of valuables as a public servant, two counts of corruption, and one count of obstructing justice, linked to his dealings with property tycoon Ong Beng Seng and Lum Chang Holdings' managing director, Mr. Lum Kok Seng.

With his trial scheduled to commence next week, Iswaran's legal representative, Mr. Navin Thevar, remained tight-lipped when inquired by CNA about whether the trial would proceed as planned on September 10. The legal team, led by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, argued that according to Section 214(1)(d) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), the prosecution must present all statements from their witnesses, including preliminary or draft statements. In contrast, the prosecution contended that they were only required to share those witness statements they planned to introduce at trial.

Ultimately, the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and his colleagues, Justices Woo Bih Li and Steven Chong, dismissed Iswaran's latest legal challenge, stating that the questions posed did not rise to the level of a public interest issue in law.