Will Pritam Singh take the stand when trial resumes on Nov 5?

Another key development is whether bid to impeach witness' credibility will go through

- Wong Pei Ting

Will Workers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh take the stand? Will the defence's bid to impeach the credibility of key witness Raeesah Khan go through?

These are the major developments to watch as the trial resumes on Nov 5.

Singh is contesting two charges over his alleged lies to a parliamentary committee convened to look into the lying controversy involving Ms Khan, a former WP MP.

He is accused of giving false answers to the committee's questions on Dec 10 and Dec 15, 2021.

So far, the court has sat for nine out of 16 of the trial's allocated hearing dates.

Ms Khan, former WP cadres Loh Pei Ying and Yudhishthra Nathan, and former WP chief Low Thia Khiang were called to the stand as part of the prosecution's bid to prove its claim beyond reasonable doubt.

With the prosecution wrapping its case with these four witnesses on Oct 24, the next order of business when the trial sits again would be whether the prosecution has presented a prima facie case so Singh has to answer the charges.

This is the phase where the court decides if the prosecution has presented a sufficiently strong case by putting forward some evidence in support of each element of each charge, said lawyer Sunil Sudheesan.

By now, both prosecution and defence have handed in their written submissions for the judge to consider this, although the defence had stated before the trial adjourned on Oct 24 that it would make submissions for only one charge.

If the court finds that the prosecution's case lacks evidence to satisfy each and every element of their charges against Singh, the case would be dismissed in the "no case to answer" scenario.

This means that Singh would be acquitted of his charges, and discharged without his defence being called, according to the Singapore courts' guide on criminal trial procedures.

The trial continues if the court finds the prosecution's case to be sufficiently strong.