At 9.30am today, a hearing begins in the case of Singapore Public Prosecutor versus Pritam Singh, the 48-year-old Secretary General of the Workers’ Party and Leader of the Opposition in Singapore Parliament. A verdict is expected in the case, in which Singh has been on trial for his alleged lies told to the parliamentary Committee of Privileges.
The verdict to expected to be delivered by Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan today, following the end of the trial on November 8, 2024.
Singh’s case is Singapore’s first prosecution under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act.
Conviction would mean another wait for the sentence meted out to Singh by the court; and a time period of 14 days for Singh to file an appeal.
Acquittal would mean that Singh cannot be prosecuted for the same alleged offence, based on the same facts; but prosecution can appeal against the acquittal within 14 days.
This verdict comes at a crucial time, as general elections are set to be held in Singapore by the second half of 2025, and a conviction could see the Leader of the Opposition barred from contesting the elections.
Singapore Constitution prevents a person convicted and fined SGD 10,000 (or more) or jailed for 1 year (or more) from contesting elections or holding a parliamentary seat for 5 years.
In case of a conviction, Singh’s political career could suffer a serious setback, as he faces a maximum sentence of 3 years in jail and a fine of SGD 7,000 on each of the two charges of lying against him. These two prison terms may run concurrently or consecutively, depending on the judge’s decision.
The allegations are centred around whether or not Singh asked his party colleague and former MP Raeesah Khan to continue lying to Parliament about an episode where she supposedly accompanied a rape survivor to file a police report. Khan has been a part of this trial.
Raeesah Khan had claimed — falsely, as it turned out later — that she had accompanied the rape survivor and that a police officer had made inappropriate comments about the victim’s attire and alcohol consumption.
Her false claim was made in a parliamentary speech on August 3, 2021, and her party leader (Pritam Singh) got to know about the lie on August 7. However, Khan maintained the lie even on October 4 in the same year, when pressed for more details by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam. She confessed to the lie a month later, and was fined SGD 35,000.
A Committee of Privileges inquiry was held into the matter, with Pritam Singh questioned in detail about whether or not he had asked Raeesah Khan to maintain the lie. It was during this inquiry that he allegedly gave false statements about how he guided Khan.
He said that he had asked her to clarify her story and admit that she had lied. She said in court that it had “seemed that Pritam was supportive of me continuing to lie”.
The two false statements allegedly made by Singh during the COP inquiry are as follows:
● Singh met Khan and other Workers’ Party members (Sylvia Lim and Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap) on August 8, 2021, shortly after Khan made her claim about the rape victim during a parliamentary debate. Singh asked Khan to clarify at some point in parliament that her claim was untrue.
● Singh spoke to Khan on October 3, 2021, when he asked her to clarify that her claim about the rape victim was a lie, if the issue came up in parliament the next day.
