Singapore’s Indian opposition leader charged with lying to parliament

Singapore’s Indian-origin opposition leader Pritam Singh was accused on Tuesday of lying under oath before a parliamentary committee.

Workers’ Party (WP) secretary-general Singh has been accused of perjury at a Privileges Committee hearing involving former member of parliament Raeesah Khan.

The 47-year-old opposition politician, who was not represented by a lawyer, stood in the dock on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to two charges under section 31(q) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act and asked Be judged.

If found guilty, he could be jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$7,000 per charge.

He asked for a four-week adjournment to hire a lawyer.

According to media reports, a pre-trial conference is scheduled for April 17.

According to the charge sheet, Singh committed perjury on December 10, 2021, stating that after meeting with Workers Party members Khan, Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap on August 8, 2021, he wanted Khan to Tell parliament what she said to MPs on August 3, 2021, was untrue.

He is also accused of giving false testimony on December 10 and December 15, 2021, saying that when he spoke to Khan on October 3, 2021, he wanted her to admit to lying in parliament.

Khan’s case came to light in 2021 when she admitted lying to parliament about a rape case she claimed was mishandled by police.

Her conduct was referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee. After a series of hearings, the committee recommended that Singer be referred to prosecutors for further investigation and possible criminal prosecution for his conduct before the committee.

He previously rejected the Privileges Committee’s findings, citing “gaps and omissions” in the report and saying it hinted at political partisanship.

During a parliamentary debate on the Privileges Committee’s final report, Singh argued that the Privileges Committee was concerned about Khan’s “uncorroborated testimony” that the Workers’ Party leadership had instructed her never to reveal that she had lied to Parliament.

“I never instructed Khan to hide the truth. At the meeting on August 8, not one of the three Workers’ Party leaders told Khan to take her lies to her grave,” Singh said on February 15, 2022.

A day after the Privileges Commission released its final report, the Workers’ Party said it was “gravely concerned” about the possible transfer of Singh and WP Deputy Chairman Mohammad Faisal Abdul Manap Faisal. Prosecution recommendations.

At the center of the Privileges Committee’s final report was a finding that Singer lied during his testimony under oath, conduct the committee said could amount to perjury.

The report determined that Singer appeared to have “played a key and leading role in guiding Khan to eliminate the lies.”

The committee called him the “key mastermind” that led to Khan repeating the lie in Parliament on October 4, 2021, and said Singh was the “brain” in why Khan’s lie was not clarified immediately after August 8. , 2021.

Khan resigned from the Workers’ Party and parliamentary seat on November 30, 2021.