Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) chairman, Pritam Singh and vice-chairman, Sylvia Lim, and Workers' Party (WP) Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang who is a town councillor, are being taken to court by AHTC in a suit initiated by the independent panel that had been appointed to help recover improper payments.

The surprising development in the long running AHTC financial management saga was reported by The Straits Times (ST) on July 26.

According to the report, the writ of summons was filed on July 21 by the town council in the High Court, over a breach of fiduciary duties.

Other defendants named in the suit include:

Lim confirmed to ST that the three WP MPs were served with a statement of claim against them by AHTC on July 25 evening. She said: "We will respond further shortly, after we have studied the claim."

According to case details, AHTC is claiming S$622,593.78 in liquidated claims from multiple parties, as well as S$4,167,501.71 in unliquidated claims. Additional sums may be involved.

The independent panel appointed in February is chaired by senior counsel Philip Jeyaretnam, and comprises senior counsel N. Sreenivasan and KPMG managing partner Ong Pang Thye.

A pre-trial conference date of Aug. 31 has been listed.

Top photo from AHTC