Singapore Court Fines Opposition Leader For Lying To Parliamentary Committee

SINGAPORE, Feb 17 (Bernama) -- The Singapore State Court fined Opposition Leader Pritam Singh the maximum S$7,000 (S$1=RM3.30) on Monday for each of the two charges of lying to a parliamentary committee, or in default, one month's imprisonment for each charge.

District Judge Luke Tan, in his oral judgment, stated that the court must send a message about the importance of providing truthful evidence while under affirmation of oath.

“He (Singh) is a lawyer who would know and should know the implications of lying under affirmation,” he said.

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The Workers' Party (WP) secretary-general was charged on March 19, 2024 under Section 31(q) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act (PPIPA) for wilfully providing a false answer during an examination before the Parliament’s Committee of Privileges (COP), read with Section 36(1)(b) of the PPIPA.

Singh’s charges relate to his testimony before the COP, which had been convened in November 2021 to investigate a lying controversy involving WP’s former Member of Parliament (MP) Raeesah Khan.

Raeesah, then MP for Sengkang (Group Representation Constituency), had told Parliament on Aug 3, 2021, that she had accompanied a rape victim to make a police report and claimed that the police officer who interviewed the victim had allegedly made comments about the victim’s attire and the fact that the victim had been drinking alcohol.

She later admitted in Parliament that the anecdote was untrue.

The prosecution is led by Deputy Attorney-General Ang Cheng Hock. Andre Jumabhoy and Aristotle Emmanuel Eng Zheng Yang, from Andre Jumabhoy LLC, are representing Singh.

According to the Singapore Constitution, a Member of Parliament may be disqualified if sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year, or to a fine of not less than S$10,000.

However, the court’s ruling on Monday will not affect Singh’s status as an MP or his chance at  contesting in the upcoming General Election, which must be held by November this year.

The Elections Department of Singapore (ELD) said in a statement that under Article 45(1)(e) of the Constitution, disqualification from being an MP is based on the sentence imposed for a single offence.

“If a person is charged with multiple offences, and the sentence for each of those offences does not meet the disqualification threshold of imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or a fine of not less than S$10,000, the person is not disqualified from being an MP,” the statement said.

The ELD clarified that the respective sentences for separate offences cannot be added together for this purpose.

Meanwhile, Singh told the media that he had instructed his legal team to file an appeal and intended to contest in the next General Election.

“We will carefully review the written judgment, and then we will make the necessary decision. As the appeal is still in progress, I don’t want to comment too much,” he said.

-- BERNAMA