Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh, Leader of the Opposition in Singapore Parliament, testified in court on November 5 that he had asked his party colleague and former MP Raeesah Khan to take “ownership and responsibility” of her anecdote about accompanying a rape victim to a police station.
This anecdote, as narrated by Khan to the Singapore Parliament on August 3, 2021, was later found to be untrue, as Khan herself told the house on November 1, 2021. The current trial of Pritam Singh is about what he said to a parliamentary committee that was investigating the false claim made by Khan.
After Khan accepted that her claim was untrue, the parliamentary Committee of Privileges (COP) started investigating her conduct. Singh, as her party leader, gave evidence before the COP in December 2021. This is when he allegedly lied, for which he now faces trial.
The Workers’ Party leader appeared in court on Tuesday to testify following the ruling by Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan that there was a case for Singh to answer for both the charges against him. The trial began on October 14 and Khan has already testified in court during the first round of hearings.
Singh allegedly made two false statements while giving evidence to the COP; therefore, he faces two charges under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act for “wilfully making two false answers on Dec 10 and Dec 15 in 2021”.
So far in the trial, Khan has testified that Singh had seemed “supportive” of her maintaining the false claim and that she was “terrified” of career consequences if she admitted to the lie, whereas Singh has said that he had asked Khan to take “responsibility” for her claim.
Reporting live on the trial, The Straits Times said that Singh testified he told Khan that she would “have to square away the issue like a responsible MP would”.
Singh testified that he had met Khan at her home on October 3, 2021, and told her to take ownership of her lie. He added that he was “incredibly disappointed” when she maintained the lie while speaking in parliament on October 4.
On October 4, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam pressed Khan to give more details about the anecdote of accompanying the rape victim. Khan did not take this opportunity to admit that the anecdote was false.
Earlier during the ongoing trial, Khan was asked by the prosecutor why she had continued with the lie. She replied, “Because I was terrified of what would happen if I came forth with the truth, and the night before (on October 3), it seemed that Pritam was supportive of me continuing to lie.”
Giving a very different version of their conversation on October 3, the Workers’ Party chief said in court on Tuesday that he had told Khan he would not judge her if she took responsibility for her false claim.
Clarifying in court what he meant by telling Khan to take “ownership and responsibility” of her claim, Singh said, “In my view, those words were clear that she had to tell the truth.”
At this point during the October 3 conversation, Khan got “a little nervous and uncomfortable”, testified Singh. He said that their conversation at her home lasted about 30 minutes.
