Workers' Party (WPs) Members of Parliament (MPs) Sylvia Lim has called for parliament to reject a motion put forward by Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Heng Swee Keat.

Heng's motion had called for WP MPs Sylvia Lim and Low Thia Khiang to recuse themselves from all financial matters at the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC).

The debate on the motion saw 52 MPs supporting it, with nine WP parliamentarians voting against it. There were two abstentions from nominated MPs.

WP MPs to appeal AHTC judgement

In response to Heng's motion, Lim stated that Heng acted "prematurely" in filing the motion, given that the WP MPs planned to appeal the judgement at the Court of Appeal, by the deadline of Nov. 11.

Lim said:

"We have been studying the judgement with our lawyers since it was released and I can inform the House today that we have decided to appeal the judgement to the Court of Appeal. We are still within the timeframe to do so and it will be filed by 11th Nov. Accordingly, the DPM acted prematurely in his decision to file the motion, and I ask the House to reject it."

Judgement is subject to appeal

Lim further added that the case was a civil proceeding that involved novel points of law.

Additionally, the trial judge's decision is subject to appeal by the court of appeal.

She added that contrary to what Heng had suggested in his 65-minute speech, it has not been decided as to whether any loss has been caused by the town council.

She also noted that the legal proof of proving loss fell on the plaintiffs in the case, according to the judge, which meant that it has not yet been decided as to whether loss has been proven.

What did the judgement find?

High Court Justice Kannan Ramesh reportedly said that Lim and Low had breached their fiduciary duties to AHTC as they had acted for “extraneous purposes”, while failing to do so for the town council’s best interests.

As such, both Low and Lim were liable for damages suffered by the town council.

Top image screenshots from CNA