Key points as judge rules that WP chief has case to answer

Workers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh opted to give evidence on Nov 5, after Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan ruled that there is a case for him to answer for both his charges.

- Wong Pei Ting

Singh's lawyer Andre Jumabhoy had earlier sought to throw out both charges against the Leader of the Opposition over his alleged lies to Parliament's Committee of Privileges (COP).

The prosecution wrapped up its case on Oct 24 after calling on four witnesses, including former Sengkang GRC MP Raeesah Khan.

On Nov 5, the judge found the prosecution's case to be sufficiently strong in relation to both charges. Singh was asked to present his defence and chose to give evidence before the court.

Singh is accused of lying on two occasions to the COP convened in November 2021 to investigate Ms Khan's untruth in Parliament.

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

Here are the key points made by the defence and prosecution:

1 DEFENCE: CHARGES ARE 'LINGUISTIC ACROBATICS' AND 'DEFECTIVE'

In arguing that the prosecution failed to make a case against Singh, Mr Jumabhoy said each charge is "defective" because it does not identify the specific question posed by the COP, and the specific answer given by Singh that is alleged to be false.

In particular, Singh did not use the words Ms Khan alleged he uttered to her after she lied in Parliament in August 2021, which were to "take it to the grave", or to "continue the narrative", the lawyer said.

He added that Singh did not tell Ms Khan that he would not judge her for continuing the lie. "And for very good reason: Ms Khan and the truth make strange bedfellows. It would defy credibility to rely on her as a witness of truth."