WP chief not being very honest in his evidence to court: Prosecution

Cross-examination turns heated after Singh is accused of changing his testimony

- Wong Pei Ting

Workers' Party (WP) chief and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh was cross-examined in rapid-fire style for almost five hours on Nov 6, as the prosecution sought to show that he had not been entirely honest in his testimony to the court, based on the contradictions in Singh's testimony on multiple areas.

The exchange turned particularly heated when Deputy Attorney-General Ang Cheng Hock accused Singh of changing his evidence as he tried to pin down when the WP chief no longer deemed it a prerequisite for former WP MP Raeesah Khan to speak to her parents before coming clean 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.

Singh is contesting two charges over his alleged lies to the parliamentary committee convened in November 2021 to look into the lying controversy involving Ms Khan.

He earlier told the court that he did not come up with an explicit plan on how to resolve Ms Khan's lie at a meeting with her, WP chairman Sylvia Lim and vice-chairman Faisal Manap on Aug 8, 2021, due to the gravity of Ms Khan's revelation to them that she was a victim of sexual assault.

His position then was that this was a matter Ms Khan would have to "settle herself", including having to speak to her parents, before she could be able to make a clarification in Parliament, he testified.

Mr Ang focused his questioning on when Singh's stance changed as he had testified that he had not asked Ms Khan if she had cleared the matter with her parents when they met on Oct 3, 2021.

Yet, Singh said he made clear to Ms Khan that she had to take ownership and responsibility over her lie, and tell the truth when Parliament sat the next day.