Pritam Singh charged with lying to Committee of Privileges in Raeesah Khan case

SINGAPORE: Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh was charged on Tuesday (Mar 19) with lying to a Committee of Privileges over the Raeesah Khan case.

Former Workers' Party (WP) MP Ms Khan lied in parliament in 2021 over a sexual assault case and accused the police of mishandling the case.

Singh, 47, faces two charges under Section 31(q) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Under the provision, it is an offence to wilfully make a false answer to any question material to the subject of inquiry put during examination before parliament or a committee, whether or not the person has been sworn or made an affirmation.

The charging comes more than two years after the Committee of Privileges said Singh and the party's vice-chair Faisal Manap had been "untruthful in their evidence under oath".

In its final report in February 2022, the committee recommended that both men​​​​​ be referred to the public prosecutor for further investigations. The public prosecutor referred the case to the police.

Mr Faisal was issued a police advisory but not charged.

Singh is accused of falsely testifying on Dec 10, 2021, about a meeting he had with Ms Khan, WP chair Sylvia Lim and Mr Faisal on Aug 8 that year. This was five days after Ms Khan lied in parliament.

Singh had told the Committee of Privileges that at the conclusion of that meeting, he wanted Ms Khan to "at some point" clarify in parliament that she had lied.

The second charge states that on Dec 10 and 15, 2021, he falsely testified that when he spoke to Ms Khan on Oct 3, he wanted her to admit to having lied if the issue came up in parliament the next day.

When questioned on the issue in parliament the next day, Ms Khan repeated her lie. She came clean about a month later.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers said the prosecution intends to ask the court to impose a fine on Singh.

"The prosecution’s position, based on the evidence presently available and considering the totality of the circumstances, is that we will be asking the court to impose a fine for each of the charges, if Mr Singh is convicted," a spokesperson said.

On Tuesday, Singh arrived at the State Courts alone. When asked by reporters why he was there, he asked them to wait for a statement and said: "Why do you normally come to the State Courts?"

He later told the court: "I plead not guilty" when asked to enter his plea. Deputy Public Prosecutor Sivakumar Ramasamy asked for a pre-trial conference date to deal with trial issues, as there were no bail issues to contend with.

Singh then asked District Judge Brenda Tan for a four-week adjournment to hire a lawyer. The judge fixed a pre-trial conference on Apr 17. 

If convicted, the WP secretary-general faces jail time of up to three years and a fine of up to S$7,000 (US$5,200) for each charge.

Under laws passed in May 2022, a person is disqualified from standing for election to become an MP, while a sitting MP will lose their seat, if they are jailed for at least one year or fined at least S$10,000. The disqualification lasts for five years.

Lawyers told CNA that it is not unusual for investigations to take this long. The case had been referred to the police about two years ago.

"This is a high-profile matter and it is possible that investigators may have had to speak to persons who are public figures. Their busy schedules may have contributed to the time taken for investigations," said Mr Adrian Wee, managing partner of Lighthouse Law LLC.

Mr Wee also said investigators likely had to consider multiple differing accounts before making a decision on the case.

WHAT THE CASE IS ABOUT

The case stems from a speech Ms Khan made in parliament on Aug 3, 2021, during a Workers' Party motion on empowering women. She was an MP for Sengkang GRC at the time.

She claimed she had accompanied a victim of sexual assault to a police station, and alleged that the police mishandled the case. 

Pressed for details by then-Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan, Ms Khan declined to provide them, claiming that she did not want the victim to relive her trauma. 

In October that same year, Ms Khan again declined to provide details regarding the case to Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, citing confidentiality reasons. 

Ms Khan eventually admitted to lying about the case and apologised in parliament. She stated she was a survivor of sexual assault and had heard about the supposed victim’s experience at the police station during a support group session.

Leader of the House Indranee Rajah then referred Ms Khan’s conduct to parliament’s Committee of Privileges.

The committee’s report in February 2022 described Singh as having been the “operating brain” in Ms Khan perpetuating the untruth. The former MP said Singh had told her to take the lie “to the grave”.