Ong Beng Seng, the billionaire set to plead guilty for his role in a Singapore graft scandal, will step down as the managing director of the property firm he founded more than four decades ago.

Two long-time executives at Hotel Properties Ltd., Christopher Lim and Stephen Lau, “will continue to manage the company,” according to a spokesperson for the Singapore-listed firm. Ong will provide “strategic oversight and direction” to the firm, the spokesperson said in response to queries from Bloomberg News.

The company said earlier that Ong “wishes to devote more time to manage his medical conditions,” according to an exchange filing Monday. He will also not put himself up for re-election as a board director at the firm’s annual general meeting on April 29.

His departure marks the beginning of a transition for the company that has interests in hotels and other developments spanning the globe from London to the Maldives. Ong began Hotel Properties in 1980 and has been a director at the firm ever since. During his tenure, the Malaysian tycoon established himself as a high-profile and at times controversial public figure in Singapore.

Lim joined the firm in 1989 and is currently group executive director, overseeing its overall management. Lau, who became an executive director in 2008, is the head of its hotel division.

Shares of Hotel Properties rose 3.5% in Singapore trading Monday amid a broader market upswing.

Ong, 79, and his wife Christina control about 60% of Hotel Properties directly and through holding companies, while Hong Kong billionaire Peter Woo controls a smaller stake, according to the firm’s annual report published Monday. The spokesperson said that Ong continues to remain as a controlling shareholder.

His children do not sit on the firm’s board. His brother-in-law David Fu Kuo Chen is a director.

Ong has been credited with bringing the Formula 1 night race to the city-state and won the rights to the Singapore Grand Prix. But his penchant for wooing the elite has backfired in the past.

In 1996, Hotel Properties was plunged into controversy after offering discounts to two of the country’s top political figures, then-deputy prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, and his father, Lee Kuan Yew, for luxury apartments in the exclusive Nassim Road enclave. Both former longtime premiers were later cleared of any impropriety, and neither Ong nor his company were found to have breached any laws or rules.

More recently, Ong was embroiled in a scandal involving former Singapore transport minister S. Iswaran who was jailed for obtaining gifts from the property tycoon. Ong was charged on two counts and was scheduled to plead guilty in early April to one charge of abetting the obstruction of justice. Another charge for abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

The billionaire got permission to enter his plea at a later date after requesting time to get more detailed reports from his doctors on his medical condition, and the ongoing monitoring and treatment.

The Ongs also have a controlling stake in British luxury handbag maker Mulberry Group Plc, and last year rejected a takeover approach from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group Plc.