Pritam Singh trial: Prosecution wraps up case; hearing to resume on Nov 5

Defence's bid to impeach credibility of key witness Raeesah Khan still undetermined

- Wong Pei Ting Correspondent

The prosecution on Oct 24 wrapped up its case in the trial of Workers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh, with the defence's bid to impeach the credibility of key witness Raeesah Khan still undetermined.

Both sides will have to prepare written submissions before the trial resumes on Nov 5. The judge will then decide if Singh should take the stand.

The ninth day of proceedings saw the court dispense with calling police Deputy Assistant Commis sioner (DAC) Roy Lim as a witness, as both prosecution and defence agreed on the facts he would have presented.

These are: Singh's phone was seized by DAC Lim during the course of investigations, and the WP chief agreed to the police reviewing its contents in his presence. The police chose not to conduct forensic extraction of the phone's contents after their review.

Singh, who is Leader of the Opposition, is fighting two charges over allegedly lying to a parliamentary committee that he had, on Aug 8 and Oct 3, 2021, wanted Ms Khan to clarify her untruth in Parliament.

On Aug 3, 2021, Ms Khan told Parliament that she had accompanied a sexual assault victim to a police station, where the victim was treated insensitively. The former Sengkang GRC MP repeated the claim before the House on Oct 4 the same year, before admitting to her lie on Nov 1, 2021.

Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan said both lawyers' submissions should address the words "clarify in Parliament", which are in Singh's first charge.

The first charge alleges that Singh lied to the Committee of Privileges (COP) when he said he wanted Ms Khan to clarify her untruth in Parliament after a meeting on Aug 8, 2021, between himself, Ms Khan and WP leaders Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap.