By Chen Lin
SINGAPORE&nbsp;(Reuters) -&nbsp;Singapore's&nbsp;anti-graft&nbsp;agency&nbsp;has launched an investigation into a case involving the city-state's&nbsp;transport&nbsp;minister, a rare high-level probe in a country that prides itself on a government free from corruption.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said it was interviewing the&nbsp;minister, S Iswaran, who was "assisting" in a case, but did not provide further details.
Prime&nbsp;Minister&nbsp;Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday said he had "instructed&nbsp;Minister&nbsp;Iswaran to take leave of absence until these investigations are completed".
The corruption bureau began investigations on July 11, he added in a statement released by his office.
Iswaran did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. The 61-year-old joined Lee's cabinet as a junior&nbsp;minister&nbsp;in 2006 and held the trade and communications portfolios before becoming&nbsp;transport&nbsp;minister&nbsp;in May 2021.
Graft&nbsp;investigations involving&nbsp;ministers are rare in&nbsp;Singapore, where civil servants are paid handsomely to discourage corruption. Many cabinet&nbsp;ministers' annual salaries exceed S$1 million (nearly $750,000).
In May, Lee ordered an investigation into the circumstances around two heavyweight&nbsp;ministers' rental of state-owned homes. They were cleared of wrongdoing in June.
($1 = 1.3384&nbsp;Singapore&nbsp;dollars)
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(Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)

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Singapore anti-graft agency probes transport minister