Workers' Party MP Sylvia Lim took the stand for the first time during the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) trial on Oct. 18, now in its 10th day.

Senior Counsel Davinder Singh pulled no punches during his cross-examination of Lim.

He contended that Lim had "lied" in the evidence she gave during the proceedings, and even in Parliament, over the circumstances of upscaling the town council computer management system following the 2011 general election.

Lim disagreed with Davinder, and denied the allegations.

Computer services terminated

Previously, the defence made the case that AHTC was put in a predicament following the termination of computer services provided by IT firm Action Information Management (AIM), shortly after GE2011.

This resulted in the newly-formed AHTC migrating the computer system used by Hougang SMC.

It also meant that the computer system had to be upscaled to meet the needs of the larger Aljunied GRC.

Letter on financial collection software

Addressing this, Davinder referred to a letter sent by How Weng Fan on May 13, 2011. At the time, How was the Secretary of Hougang Town Council.

The letter was addressed to Jeffrey Chua, then-Secretary of Aljunied Town Council (ATC), and another person who was Secretary of Marine Parade Town Council at the time.

Lim confirmed that she had read this letter, shortly after it was sent out.

In this letter, How asked for certain documents and information related to the financial collection software of the computer system, as required by "our computer vendor".

Said Davinder:

"That vendor needed information and documents for (it) to begin the upscaling process."

In reply, Lim said that the letter's purpose was to collate information to hand over to the incoming management.

She added that while the letter did not specifically mention "upscaling", she accepted it as a "natural consequence".

Davinder then referred to a phrase How used, "time is of the essence", which would impress upon the letter's recipients of the need for urgency.

Lim agreed with this.

Different interpretation of HDB's question

Chua replied to the letter on May 16, 2011.

Responding to How's request, he said it had been taken up by ATC's own system service provider (AIM) and HDB. HDB was also copied in the email.

Davinder said that the letter and reply showed that by May 16, AIM had learned that AHTC intended to upscale the computer system.

Said Davinder:

"Therefore, that system provider which we all know is AIM, would have learned by the third week of May at the latest that AHTC was seeking to upscale the Hougang (Town Council) software for the purposes of financial collection."

Lim had earlier stated she felt "concerned" AIM would terminate its contract, following a meeting she attended on May 20, 2011 with the HDB Town Council Secretariat.

In this meeting, the HDB representative had asked whether the incoming councillors had a system they could upscale to suit Aljunied GRC's needs.

This seemed to indicate to her that AHTC could not use AIM's computer system.

But Davinder pointed out that HDB were copied in the letter reply sent by Chua on May 16.

Therefore, they would be aware that AHTC intended to upscale their computer system.

Said Davinder:

"Is it any surprise to you that HDB, knowing that you intended to upscale, would ask you whether you had computer vendors lined up?

HDB was doing no more than facilitating your objective."

Lim replied:

"I don't agree."

Reasonable for AIM to assume they were no longer needed

After a question by Davinder, Lim said that her concern about AIM terminating its contract was not brought up during a meeting with Chua on May 30, 2011.

Davinder then made the point that AIM would have been told, or given the impression that there was no longer a need for them to continue providing services to AHTC.

Having learned of AHTC's intentions, it would therefore be reasonable for AIM to begin the process of separation between themselves and AHTC.

Lim replied:

"They might assume that."

She added that in her correspondence thus far, she had been referring to the financial collection system software, but AIM's software system encompassed more than just that.

She also added that AIM should have known about the consequences of an immediate withdrawal from a town council.

AIM gave more time than required

Davinder referred to a request by How to extend the time that AIM would serve the town council, to give How more time to upscale the system.

By June 10, 2011, Lim and How had became aware of the terms of AIM's contract with the town council. It included a clause that allowed them to terminate their services by giving one month's notice.

How had previously spoken to Sasidharan, co-ordinating Secretary for AIM, to ask for more time.

Sasidharan suggested that Chua make the request to AIM, in his capacity as Secretary of AHTC. Chua did so on June 10, 2011.

But instead of giving How and the town council their termination notice immediately, AIM decided to give notice on June 22, 2011 instead.

In addition, they agreed to stay on until Aug. 31, 2011, thereby giving How the additional time she requested.

Lim pointed out that this was partly due to AIM's need to serve the existing Managing Agent, CPG. The handover of Managing Agents occurred on Aug. 1, 2011.

However, she agreed that AIM's involvement past Aug. 1 was helpful.

Said Davinder:

"Far from AIM trying to undermine AHTC or the WP, it bent over backwards to accede to the request that was sought by AHTC."

Lim objected to the term "bent over backwards", saying it was loaded, Davinder then said:

"They agreed to give you (the) time you needed although they were not obliged to under the contract."

Lim agreed with this.

Contention over whether there was urgency

Davinder then quoted Lim's own affidavit, which suggested that AHTC began "urgent" preparations to upscale the computer system after Chua had informed them that AIM intended to terminate its contract.

He contended that this was misleading, given the cross-examination thus far.

He pointed to another statement of Lim's defence, which said that as of early June 2011, AHTC was facing "imminent" termination of the computer system by AIM, and therefore needed to upscale the computer system to prevent disruption to the residents.

Davinder contended that this was untrue, as the upscaling work had begun before AIM's termination of the contract.

Davinder then referred to a speech made by Lim in Parliament during the debate on the Auditor-General's report on the audit of AHPETC.

During the speech on Feb. 12, 2015, Lim said:

"There was an urgent need to put in place a computer system due to the termination of the former system in use."

Davinder then said:

"In all the instances I have shown you, you led the town councillors, the court, Parliament, and the public to believe that it was because AIM had terminated, that AHTC had no choice but to upscale, and therefore was put in a difficult position as far as collections were concerned. Correct?"

Lim replied:

"Yes."

Davinder then said that it was a false impression, deliberately perpetuated by Lim, and added that upscaling was already decided and AIM was giving AHTC the time it needed.

Lim replied:

"Mr Singh, I was there and it was not as you put it.”

Davinder Singh: "You lied"

At the end of his cross-examination, Davinder ran over his points once more:

• The intention to upscale had already been made before the meeting with Chua.
• AIM had a clause in its contract that allowed termination with one-month's notice.
• Despite this, it gave AHTC additional time to allow it to upscale its computer system.
• Sasidharan, AIM's representative, had been friendly and helpful when dealing with How.

Davinder said that despite all this, Lim had "misled everyone".

He said:

"You lied to your town council members, you lied to Parliament, you lied to this court in your defence."

Lim replied:

"I disagree."

Davinder added:

"Even now you don’t have the honour to accept that what you did was wrong."

Lim replied:

"I disagree, Mr Singh."

The trial is expected to continue on Oct. 19.

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Top image from Matthias Ang