SINGAPORE: The date for the appeal hearing for Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh, who was convicted in February over two counts of lying under oath to a parliamentary committee, has been set.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, Pritam’s lawyer Andre Jumabhoy said on July 9 the hearing will be held on Nov 4 at 10am.
After Pritam was fined a total of S$14,000 (USS$10,928) on Feb 17 following a trial, he said he would appeal his conviction and sentence.
The Aljunied GRC MP was found guilty of two counts of lying to the Committee of Privileges, making him the first sitting opposition MP to be convicted of a criminal charge in almost 40 years.
He received the maximum fine of S$7,000 for each charge.
In his judgment, Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan ruled that Pritam, who is the Leader of the Opposition, had wilfully lied to the Committee of Privileges about how he dealt with the untruth that former WP MP Raeesah Khan told in Parliament on Aug 3, 2021.
Khan had lied about accompanying a sexual assault victim to a police station. She repeated the false claim before the House on Oct 4 the same year.
During a 13-day trial that began on Oct 14, 2024, Pritam and Khan took the witness stand, along with former WP cadres Loh Pei Ying and Yudhishthra Nathan and former party chief Low Thia Khiang.
Pritam retained his parliamentary seat in the recent General Election, when he was part of a WP five-member team in Aljunied GRC that maintained its hold over the constituency with 59.68 per cent of the votes, against its PAP challengers’ 40.32 per cent.
Following the election, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Pritam will remain the Leader of the Opposition, with staff and resources to carry out his duties. - The Straits Times/ANN
