Pritam Singh is going on trial for allegedly lying to Parliament. Need a recap? We got you.

From Oct. 14, the Leader of the Opposition, Pritam Singh, is due to stand trial.

The charges? Two counts of lying to Parliament.

It's been about three years since the whole thing started, so we put together a quick recap for you. Buckle up, here we go.

Aug. 2021: The backstory

It begins with a story that former Workers' Party (WP) MP, Raeesah Khan, shared in Parliament on Aug. 3, 2021.

Three years prior, she had accompanied a 25-year-old survivor of sexual assault to make a police report, she recounted.

However, the victim emerged from the police station crying as a police officer "had allegedly made comments about her dressing and the fact that she had been drinking".

Pointing to that case, Raeesah called on the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to train more police officers in handling sexual assault and harassment cases.

But when Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan asked her to provide more details of the case so it could be re-investigated, Raeesah said that she had lost contact with the victim since.

"I believe, that given the topic at hand, consent is imperative, not least to avoid re-victimisation," she added.

Oct. 2021: The lie

It didn't stop there.

Several months later, on Oct. 4, 2021, Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam resurfaced the case, pressing Raeesah for more details.

The police had been unable to pull up a specific instance than matched her claims, he said.

After his fourth attempt at getting more details, he asked Raeesah to state for the record that the incident did take place.

She responded in the affirmative. Shanmugam then said that the police would continue to investigate the matter and interview Raeesah, and that the matter was not over.

A couple of weeks later, on Oct. 20, 2021, the police released a statement.

After an "extensive search", they had failed to identify such a case, they said.

As such, they "cannot confirm that such an incident actually took place", the Singapore Police Force said.

Nov. 2021: The confession

On Nov. 1, 2021, Raeesah made a confession to Parliament: she had lied about the case.

She had not been personally involved in the case. Instead, the story she'd claimed to have experienced firsthand had been an anecdote that was recounted in a women's support group that she had been part of.

Raeesah added that she herself was a survivor of sexual assault, having been assaulted at the age of 18 while studying abroad.

Addressing the House, she apologised to the survivor whose anecdote she had used, to the Singapore Police Force, to the House, to her party and constituents, and to her family.

Also Nov. 2021: The response

In response, the Leader of the House, Indranee Rajah, filed a complaint against her for allegedly breaching parliamentary privilege.

With the approval of then-Speaker Tan Chuan Jin, the matter was referred to the Committee of Privileges (COP).

The WP subsequently announced that it had separately formed a disciplinary panel to look into her admission that she had lied.

The panel would comprise Singh, with fellow WP leaders Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap. Its work would be independent from from the COP's, a spokesperson said.

At the end of the month, on Nov. 30, 2021, the WP released another statement: Raeesah had resigned as an MP and her membership of the Worker's Party.

Dec. 2021: Untangling the situation

But the matter was just beginning.

On Dec. 3, 2021, the first of a series of six special reports, convened by the COP, was released.

The reports contained testimonies of Raeesah and the leaders, accompanying documents, and were released alongside 18 videos with over 30 hours of runtime.

But their accounts were far from consistent with each other.

In her testimony, the former Sengkang GRC MP said that the party's leaders had told her during a meeting on Aug. 8, 2021, that there was no need for her to clarify the lie, and for the truth to be told.

The leaders also directed her not to respond to the police and to ignore the requests, Raeesah testified.

Instead, they had agreed that the "best thing to do [was] to take the information to the grave", she said.

But the WP leaders would later dispute this in their own testimonies.

Faisal Manap, vice-chair of the WP, denied that the trio told Raeesah to take the lie in Parliament to the grave, as well as her claim that they had spoken to her about the police accusation.

He added that Raeesah was lying "but he could not explain why she would do so".

Also Dec. 2021: The alleged lies

Most importantly, however, were Singh's own testimonies — which would later form the basis for his charges.

He was heard by the Committee on Dec. 10 and Dec. 15, 2021.

In contrast to Raeesah's claim that the leaders had told her to continue with the lie in their Aug. 8, 2021 conversation, Singh said that there had been no discussion on the matter after her confession.

And in a separate conversation on Oct. 3, 2021, while Raeesah alleged that Singh had suggested there would be no consequences if she continued with the lie if the matter came up, Singh disagreed.

He said that while he did not tell Raeesah to tell the truth explicitly, he had been "very clear" that she had to do so, if the matter was raised in Parliament the next day.

Feb. 2022: The COP's conclusions

After six reports, the COP finally concluded that all three WP leaders had been "untruthful in their evidence, under oath, to this committee".

It further advised that Singh — who "appears to have played the key and leading role in guiding Ms Khan in respect of the untruth" — should be referred to the Public Prosecutor.

Meanwhile, appropriate sanctions on Lim and Faisal, who had played more "subsidiary" roles, should be deferred until after the conclusion of the investigation, the report suggested.

The COP also noted that while Parliament has the power to impose sanctions, it appeared best that the matter be dealt with through a trial process, "given the seriousness of the matter".

This is so that the Public Prosecutor can consider the evidence afresh, as well as any further evidence that matters, and so Singh has the opportunity to defend himself.

In response, Singh said that he "completely rejected" the COP's findings, pointing out that they focused on Raeesah's "uncorroborated testimony", despite her having lied in the House.

"At no time did I instruct Miss Khan to hide the truth," he said, adding that he would cooperate with the Public Prosecutor to clear his name.

Mar. 2024: The charge

On Mar. 19, 2024, Singh was handed two charges of lying to the COP.

He was accused of falsely testifying that as at the conclusion of a meeting with Raeesah Khan, WP Chair Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap on Aug. 8, 2021, he wanted Raeesah to, at some point, clarify in parliament that what she told MPs on Aug. 3, 2021 about having accompanied a rape victim to a police station was untrue.

He was alleged to have falsely testified on Dec. 10, 2021 and Dec. 15, 2021, that when he spoke to Raeesah on Oct. 3, 2021, he wanted her to admit to having lied to Parliament about the original anecdote, if the issue were to come up in Parliament the next day.

He pleaded not guilty.

In a subsequent statement, Singh said that he would continue with all his MP responsibilities while waiting for the legal process to come to a close.

He added that he was "under no illusion" as to the challenges of building a "more balanced and democratic political system in Singapore" since he entered politics.

Oct. 2024 and beyond: What's next?

Which brings us to Singh's trial, which is scheduled to run over 16 days between the period of Oct. 14 and Nov. 13, 2024.

If convicted, he faces a penalty of up to S$7,000 for each of the two charges, and/or a jail term of up to three years.

If he's convicted and the judge agrees with the prosecution's position that the appropriate punishment is a fine, Singh should still be able to continue working as an MP (which law professor Eugene Tan explains here).

But what's going to go down during the trial?

Who'll be pulled up to testify on the witness stand?

And what's next for Lim and Faisal, whose fates will be decided only after the proceedings are over?

Your guess is as good as ours. Stay tuned for more updates.

Top image from govsg/Youtube