WP chief lied to downplay responsibility in Raeesah Khan's untruth: Prosecution

After he found out former Sengkang GRC MP Raeesah Khan had lied in Parliament, Workers' Party (WP) chief and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh told a parliamentary committee investigating the matter that he had asked her to clarify the untruth to the House.

- Wong Pei Ting Correspondent and Tham Yuen-C Senior Political Correspondent

In reality, Singh had, on two different occasions, told Ms Khan to maintain her lie, said the prosecution on Oct 14, the first day of Singh's trial.

This meant that in attempting to downplay his own responsibility in Ms Khan's lying controversy, he had provided false testimony to the Committee of Privileges, it added.

Ms Khan admitted in Parliament on Nov 1, 2021, that she had misled Parliament on Aug 3 and Oct 4, 2021, when she claimed and then restated that she had accompanied a sexual assault victim to a police station, where the victim was treated insensitively.

She had first disclosed her lie to Singh on Aug 7, 2021.

The committee that investigated Ms Khan's lie held hearings for seven days between Dec 2 and Dec 22, 2021, and its report was debated in Parliament on Feb 15, 2022, which was when the House resolved to refer Singh to the public prosecutor for a further probe.

Singh was charged on March 19, 2024. He is contesting two charges under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act, which makes it an offence to lie in response to questions posed by Parliament or its committee.

If convicted, he could be fined up to $7,000, jailed for up to three years, or both, on each charge.

Calling on Ms Khan as the trial's first witness, the prosecution sought to show how Singh and other WP leaders had, in meetings with her on Aug 8 and Oct 3, 2021, told her to keep to her lie, and had advised her to clarify her untruth only on Oct 12 that year.

From Aug 9 to Oct 3, nothing was done in relation to any public statements she should make on the matter.

But after Oct 11, the party's leaders were deeply involved in preparing her public statements. These included nine drafts of a personal statement that Ms Khan made in Parliament on Nov 1 admitting to her untruth.