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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   586 thread views

Transnational Thursday for October 3, 2024

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/02/business/singapore-iswaran-sentencing-corruption-intl-hnk/index.html

Transport Minister in Singapore got sentenced 12 months for receiving gifts (about 300k of stupid shit like Taylor Swift tickets) without declaring. The corruption charge was dropped by the prosecution, so the peanut gallery anticipated a sentencing of about six weeks, given the reputation of the defense lawyer and the anticipation of an upcoming election making the prospect of having a minister prosecuted be embarrassing to the ruling party.

The long sentence, over what the prosecution asked for, therefore comes as a surprise. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in Singapore does not fuck around, but the prosecution did ask for what was concluded to be a reasonable ask for an easy victory. In this boring country where things rarely happen, this public scalping is rather exciting, even if its more of a 1guard shave than last of the mohicans.

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