Pritam Singh's appeal hearing for conviction & sentence set for Nov. 4

Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh is set to have his appeal hearing on Nov. 4 after being convicted on two charges of lying under oath to a parliamentary committee, and fined S$7,000 for each charge.

In response to Mothership's enquiries, Singh's lawyer Andre Jumabhoy said on Jul. 9 that the appeal hearing is set for Nov. 4 at 10am.

Singh, the Workers' Party (WP) secretary-general, had gone on trial for what he told the Committee of Privileges (COP), which was set up to look into former WP Member of Parliament (MP) Raeesah Khan and her untruth in parliament.

On Feb. 17, Singh was found guilty on two charges under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act and fined the maximum of S$7,000 for each charge.

Singh's conviction does not disqualify him from serving as an MP, according to guidelines from the Elections Department.

To be disqualified, an MP must be convicted of a single sentence upwards of a year's jail, or a S$10,000 fine, ELD has previously said.

The respective sentences for separate offences cannot be added together for this purpose.

Singh will continue as the Leader of the Opposition for the next term of Parliament, as noted by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on May 5.

Background

Singh's first charge was for claiming that he wanted Raeesah Khan to clarify her lie in parliament at some point.

The second was for telling the COP that he had advised Raeesah Khan to come clean in parliament.

In his judgment, Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan, said that in his view, the evidence indicates that what Raeesah said was true and that Singh’s actions strongly indicated that he did not want her to clarify her untruth at some point.

Tan rejected the defence's attempts to discredit Raeesah's account and found Raeesah to be a credible witness.

He also gave "full weight" to the testimonies of Raeesah's former aides, Loh Pei Ying and Yudhishthra Nathan, as he found they had no reason to lie or falsely implicate Singh.

The prosecution sought the maximum fine of S$7,000 for each charge, and said it would not be pressing for a custodial sentence.

The defence had asked for a fine of S$4,000 per offence.

Listing other relevant factors in his statement, including Singh’s awareness that his false answer could lead to harm to Raeesah, Tan said the maximum fine should be imposed for each charge.

After the sentence was passed down on Feb. 17, Singh told the media outside the State Courts that he intended to appeal the conviction and sentence.

Top image by Mothership