Pritam’s appeal against conviction, sentence over lying to Parliament set for Nov 4

SINGAPORE – The date for the appeal hearing for Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh, who was

convicted in February

of two counts of lying under oath to a parliamentary committee, has been set.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, Mr Singh’s lawyer, Mr Andre Jumabhoy, said on July 9 that the hearing will be held on Nov 4 at 10am.

After Mr Singh was fined a total of $14,000 on Feb 17 following a trial, he said he would appeal against 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 $7,000 for each charge.

In his judgment, Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan ruled that Mr Singh, who is the Leader of the Opposition, wilfully lied to the Committee of Privileges about how he dealt with 

the untruth that former WP MP Raeesah Khan

had told Parliament on Aug 3, 2021.

Ms 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, Mr Singh and Ms Khan took the witness stand, along with former WP cadres Loh Pei Ying and Yudhishthra Nathan, and former party chief Low Thia Khiang.

The defence sought to paint Ms Khan as a habitual liar, while the prosecution – including then Deputy Attorney-General Ang Cheng Hock – argued that Mr Singh tried to cover up his involvement in Ms Khan’s lie to Parliament.

In meting out the maximum fine, Judge Tan said he agreed with the prosecution that the court must send a message on the importance of giving truthful information under affirmation or oath.

Mr Singh retained his parliamentary seat in the recent general election, where 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 Mr Singh will

remain the Leader of the Opposition

, with staff and resources to carry out his duties.