Senior Counsel Davinder Singh continued his cross-examination of Workers' Party MP Sylvia Lim on Oct. 23.

Near the end of the morning session, Davinder zeroed in on a media statement released by Lim on Aug. 5, 2011. Lim was then the Chairman of Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC).

Question of additional costs incurred

The statement informed that AHTC would not be incurring any additional costs by appointing FM Solutions & Services as the Managing Agent to replace CPG Facilities Management.

This was reported in an article by The Straits Times on Aug. 6.

However, according to the Letter of Intent by FMSS, dated June 15, 2011, AHTC would reimburse FMSS for the costs of hiring the staff of Hougang Town Council (HTC), upon their takeover as Managing Agent.

Said Davinder:

"Therefore this statement, that AHTC did not incur additional Managing Agent fees from appointing FMSS, was to your knowledge, false."

In reply, Lim said that she did not think it was false at the time she wrote it. She said she was informing of the "steady state" of FMSS's charges, at the same rate as CPG's.

Lim said that she agreed there were additional costs related to the one-off hiring of staff. She added:

"I could have been more accurate here, but I didn't intend to mislead."

Davinder said that he agreed the statement was incorrect. He then asked whether it was untrue. In reply, Lim said:

"I can accept it's not accurate."

Said Davinder:

"I didn't ask you that question."

After a long pause, Lim said:

"Yes, it's not true."

Question of intent

Davinder then asked if Lim knew the statement was untrue when she made it. Lim replied that she would have known. Davinder then asked:

"To know that you are stating an untruth is to lie. Correct?"

After another long pause, and several repetitions of the question by Davinder, Lim said:

"Mr Singh, my state of mind when I wrote this was not like that. I would say that I was very careless."

Said Davinder:

"I didn't ask you that. I asked 'To knowingly state an untruth is a lie'. Do you agree?"

After an intervention from Justice Kannan Ramesh asking Lim to answer the question, Lim said:

"Your honour, at the time I drafted the media release I had no intention to mislead."

Davinder asked if a person was lying if that person knew that something was untrue, and yet communicates it. He asked if Lim agreed. Lim replied that if it was done with deliberation, then agreed insofar "lying" implies a dishonest intention.

Davinder said not to worry about that, and said that to knowingly state an untruth was a lie. He added:

"Ms Lim, you are fencing, you are evading. But you have to answer...Do you agree with my question?"

Lim replied:

"Yes."

Other MPs did not correct media statement

Davinder then pointed out that after the statement was disseminated to the media, Lim sent another email to the other elected members of the WP informing them.

Davinder asked if the other MPs, who knew of the media statement and were also aware of the extra cost incurred by appointing FMSS, asked Lim to correct the statement or contacted the media to correct them.

Lim replied that they did not.

Davinder also pointed out that Lim had maintained her position in her affidavit, and she replied she was stating what happened.

Said Davinder:

"So Ms Lim, you knowingly stated an untruth to the entire country, including your residents about how much money was going to be spent. All the elected MPs of WP who knew it was an untruth did nothing to correct the position. And in your affidavit, you have reiterated the same position you took when you communicated that untruth."

Lim replied:

"Mr Singh, the issue is a one-time transitional expense."

When Davinder asked if she agreed or disagreed, Lim said that it was not accurate. Said Davinder:

"You said it was an untruth. You’ve confirmed that the elected MPs who knew about the untruth did nothing to correct the position, and you have repeated that position in your affidavit."

Lim replied:

"There was no correction made, yes."

Davinder said that his question was about more than that. Lim then replied yes.

Ownership of FMSS

Another point covered was the question of ownership.

Davinder also asked why Lim did not not state in the 2011 media statement that the majority owners of FMSS, How Weng Fan and Danny Loh, were WP supporters.

Instead, Lim stated that no WP members had an interest in FMSS.

In reply, Lim said:

"The purpose of this media release was to tell the public vis-à-vis what had been done about the taking over of the town council and the services provided."

She added that she did not think it was relevant, and that her aim was to inform the public there were grounds where they could assess FMSS's work.

Davinder said that her words were very carefully chosen, and that Lim was giving a half-truth.

She said she didn't know what he meant, and asked why it was a half-truth. Davinder replied:

"The full picture would have been to say they are not WP members, but supporters, yes?"

Lim said:

"I think that's a quantum leap."

She added that she was telling the public of steps that had been taken, and there was nothing sinister about this.

Did not clarify key terms of contract

Earlier during the morning session, Davinder and Lim clashed over the report that Lim had prepared for the town council meeting on Aug. 4.

He said that Lim's report adopted a phrase used by Loh in his presentation to Lim and some other elected members of the WP on June 2.

That phrase was "Specifications". Lim said that this meant that FMSS' contract would follow the terms of CPG's contract, as much as possible.

Davinder asked if the other town councillors explicitly asked to clarify what "Specifications" entailed. Lim said they did not. She said:

"What was briefed to the councillors was that FMSS would take over at CPG’s rates for Aljunied, that is one principle which is key. The second thing is that they would follow as closely to CPG’s contract as possible. In the councillors' minds, it was the continuation of the status quo as much as necessary."

Davinder said that the councillors were new and did not know what the status quo was, except there was a new managing agent, a new contract, and the rates in that contract. He said:

"As far as they were concerned, the upshot of their knowledge at the end of that meeting on the contract was same rates, without knowing what the rates were, and specifications, without knowing what the contract said."

Davinder also asked if Lim had explained at the town council meeting the terms of termination of the FMSS contract. Lim said she had not.

While she agreed that the termination clause of a contract was a key term, she did not see the need to speak about it during the meeting where FMSS was appointed.

Davinder said there were two options, either Lim didn't believe it was part of the contract, or that she had failed in her duty to inform the councillors of the key terms. He said:

"If you have any other option arising from those facts, tell us."

Lim replied that she did not think it was necessary at that meeting. She said:

"I believe the termination clause was part of the contract. I believe that in general a termination is a key clause in any contractual relationship. I believed that talking about termination was not necessary at this meeting, which was about appointment."

She added that even if she had raised the termination clause, it would just describe the rights of the parties to terminate the contract, and she thought it would not have changed the town council's decision.

Davinder said:

"What this appears is that it was about going through the motions with as little info as possible and in doing that, you completely compromised the interests of the residents."

Lim replied:

"I disagree."

Davinder said that Lim's concern was to push the whole thing through. Lim replied that was not true.

Davinder's cross-examination of Lim continues in the afternoon of Oct. 23.

[related_story]

Top image by Sulaiman Daud.

 

Content that keeps Mothership.sg going

---

?
This is what it feels like to have your hair removed by intense bursts of light.

? vs ?
You're on the MRT. Do you read or surf?
Why not both??