Singapore: Singapore's Indian-origin Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh was on Monday fined SGD 14,000 after a district court found him guilty on two counts of lying under oath to a parliamentary committee. Singh was fined a maximum of SGD 7,000 for each of his two charges.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, the Leader of the Opposition said he will be running for the general election which is due in November this year. The Constitution states that a sitting MP will lose his seat and be disqualified from standing for election if he is jailed for at least one year, or fined at least SGD 10,000.
However, the Elections Department confirmed on Monday that the sentence imposed on Singh does not reach the threshold to disqualify him as an MP. It said disqualification is based on the sentence imposed for a single offence. In a Facebook post, Singh said that he has instructed his legal team to file a notice of appeal and to look into the written judgment in closer detail.
Fielding questions from the media at the State Courts after the sentencing, Singh said that he intends to contest the upcoming General Election which is due November this year.
Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan convicted Singh on two charges of lying in the house relating to another lying case of a fellow former party member and MP Raeesah Khan in 2021.
Singh, 48, was found to have given false testimony to a parliamentary committee that was looking into the conduct of former Workers’ Party MP Raeesah Khan, who had admitted to making up a story about accompanying a sexual assault victim to the police station.
Singh is secretary-general of the opposition Workers’ Party and was convicted on Monday. "The court must send a message on the importance of giving truthful information when under oath," the judge said in sentencing.
Judge Luke Tan agreed with both the prosecution and the defence that a jail term was not warranted in Singh's case. Singh was accused of willfully giving two false answers to the COP during its inquiry into Khan's case on December 10 and December 15, 2021.
He was charged with falsely testifying in two cases. On one occasion, he had said that after an August 8, 2021 meeting between him, Khan and WP leaders Sylvia Lim and Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap, he wanted Khan to clarify that she had lied in Parliament on August 3.
On two other occasions, he had said that during a meeting with Khan on October 3, 2021, he had asked her to come clean about her lie if the issue was brought up in the House on October 4, 2021.
On Singh's first charge, Judge Tan said evidence showed that at the end of the meeting on August 8, 2021, the position was that Khan's lie would not come up and that it would be difficult for the government to find out the truth due to the large number of police stations.
At the same time, Singh, who is a "political veteran", was aware that the lie could result in Khan being brought to the COP, he added, noting the former's position as the party's secretary general and Leader of the Opposition.
The prosecution sought a maximum fine of SGD 7,000 on each charge. Singh’s trial began four months ago. Singh was facing up to three years in jail, a fine of up to SGD 7,000 (USD 5,290), or both for each charge, that would eventually disqualify him from Parliament seat and contest election to political office.
