WP's Pritam Singh appeals verdict over lying to COP, court's decision set to later date

Workers' Party (WP) Secretary-General Pritam Singh was back in court on Nov. 4, 2025, to appeal against his guilty conviction of wilfully making false answers to material questions put to him during his examination by the Committee of Privileges (COP) in December 2021.

Judge Steven Chong said the court has reserved judgment and parties will be informed when the judgment is ready.

Information on the hearing will be revealed at a later date.

In response to the media outside of court, Singh said he would only be able to comment after the judgment is given.

What went down in court

Over several hours, Singh's lawyer Andre Jumabhoy argued that the previous district judge who convicted Singh "ignored crucial pieces of evidence" and noted two critical statements.

The first being Singh's alleged comment about taking former WP Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan's untruth "to the grave", which he denied saying and saying, "I will not judge you" to her.

The prosecution interpreted that statement to mean Singh would not judge Raeesah for continuing her lie, but the defence argued that Singh meant he would not judge her if she took ownership of her lie.

After a break, the prosecution pointed out that Singh had not addressed the two key points that underlie his case.

The prosecution has proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt regarding the two questions on the statement "take it to the grave" and "I will not judge you".

The prosecution also provided instances where the district judge found Singh's testimony "incoherent (and) inconsistent".

However, Chong said he does not find the general submission attacking Singh's credibility as "useful" and "appealing". He then told the prosecution to reframe their submission instead of "saying he lied on eight occasions, so everything he said is a lie".

The prosecution then brought up Singh's failure to follow up with Raeesah even once after the anecdote, arguing that he was not too busy to address the issue, as he had time to give a private tour of his office in Parliament.

"This radio silence speaks volumes," said Deputy Attorney General Goh Yihan.

Chong went on to question the prosecution regarding Singh's second charge, specifically the phrasing "wanted to convey".

He noted that the phrasing is based on what Singh told the COP, not what he told Raeesah.

He went on to state that "no one is responsible for that lie except for [Raeesah]".

Ultimately, the prosecution called for the dismissal of Singh's appeal in its entirety.

Background

Singh went on trial for two charges relating to what he told the COP, which was set up to look into Raeesah and her untruth in parliament.

To jog your memory, here is all that went down from Aug. 3, 2021, to Singh's 13-day trial in 2024:

On Feb. 17, 2025,  the judge convicted Singh on both charges under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act.

The first is for claiming that he wanted Raeesah to clarify her lie in parliament at some point.

The second is for telling the Committee of Privileges that he had advised Raeesah to come clean in parliament.

The judge found Singh guilty of falsely testifying to the COP that when he spoke to Raeesah on Oct. 3, 2021, he wanted her to admit to having lied to parliament on Aug. 3, 2021, about having accompanied a rape victim to a police station, if this issue were to come up in parliament on Oct 4, 2021.

Singh was given the maximum fine of S$7,000 for each charge.

Top photos via Azrizal Bin Abu Che/Mothership