Pritam Singh charged with lying to parliament body: A timeline

SINGAPORE: Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh was charged in court on Tuesday (Mar 19) with lying before a parliamentary committee, in relation to a lie that his party’s former lawmaker Raeesah Khan told in the House in 2021.

Singh, who is also Leader of the Opposition, faces two charges under Section 31(q) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act. He pleaded not guilty.

Here's a timeline of key events over the last few years.

Aug 3, 2021: Ms Khan gave a speech during a WP motion in parliament on empowering women. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Sengkang GRC at the time.

She talked about accompanying a sexual assault survivor to the police station three years earlier, saying the 25-year-old woman came out crying. "The police officer had allegedly made comments about her dressing, and the fact that she was drinking,” Ms Khan added.

Asked for more details so that authorities could investigate, Ms Khan said she did not wish to re-traumatise the survivor. She also had not succeeded in contacting the woman since the incident.

Later, Ms Khan exchanged text messages with Singh. He said he had highlighted this part in her draft speech, and asked her to address the matter because she had it on record.

Aug 7, 2021: Ms Khan admitted to Singh that her anecdote was untrue.

Aug 8, 2021: Ms Khan met Singh, WP chair Sylvia Lim and party leader Faisal Manap. She told them she had lied and had no way of substantiating her statements in parliament.

She later texted her secretarial assistant Loh Peiying and a WP volunteer Yudhishthra Nathan, saying the WP leaders had agreed at the meeting that “the best thing to do is take the information to the grave”.

Aug 10, 2021: Singh confirmed with Ms Loh - who was previously his secretarial assistant from 2013 to 2016 - and Mr Nathan that he was informed about Ms Khan lying. 

From August to September that year, Ms Khan continued with her MP duties, and there was no further discussion on the lie. This period included a parliamentary sitting on Sep 13, 2021 which Singh later acknowledged as an opportunity for the truth to be clarified - but no steps were taken.