What: The Workers' Party town council was in court for the final day  of the trial, with the National Environment Agency (NEA) lawyers as the public prosecutor.

Who: The chairwoman of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) Sylvia Lim. The lawyer representing WP is Peter Low.

Why: The prosecutor's case is that the AHPETC was not given a permit to run a Chinese New Year fair from Jan. 9 to 30 this year.

When: The trial has ended after 2.5 days of hearing. The verdict likely to be the end of Nov.

How: If found guilty, the AHPETC can be fined up to $1,000.

Read Day 1 of the trial here.

Read Day 2 of the trial here.

Developing story:

It was the final day of the trial on Oct. 16, 2014.

Prosecution accused AHPETC of "deliberately and persistently flouting the law", providing the following reasons:

1) TC did not inform NEA that they thought a permit was not needed: Prosecution asked Lim why the TC did not tell NEA that its event did not require a permit. Lim replied the town council did not have the authority to do so.

2) TC did not tell the NEA in reply that the event was a mini fair: Prosecution argued that AHPETC used these terms to describe the event during the trial, but did not once inform NEA that the event was a "mini fair" during the email correspondences.

3) TC did not tell the NEA that the event was a community event: AHPETC did not indicate specifically to NEA that it was a “community event”. Lim argued that the nature of the event was evident in its name - Lunar New Year Flora and Community Fair. She also said that MP Low Thia Khiang has written a letter to indicate that the event would bring "a sense of holiday cheer to the community".

According to The Online Citizen, Lim argued that the prosecution was “not being fair” in his cross-examination, because he did not allow her to explain the town council’s action, repeatedly asking for yes-no answers.

The defence led by Peter Low wanted to ask Lim to clarify on earlier correspondences between AHPETC and NEA, but the prosecution objected and requested for the “rule of relevancy” to be maintained in court. This is to disallow “matters that breached the threshold”, citing former cases such as those involving politicians Chee Soon Juan where irrelevant material was disallowed.

The prosecutor's objection was sustained.

The trial concluded after two other town council employees testified on the authenticity of documents presented during the trial. AHPETC lawyer Peter Low decided not to call on Hougang MP Png Eng Huat as a defence witness.

Top photo from here

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