Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh will on Nov 4 appeal against his conviction and sentence for giving false testimony to a parliamentary committee investigating former Workers’ Party (WP) MP Raeesah Khan’s 2021 falsehood.
Singh, who heads the WP, was fined a total of $14,000 on Feb 17 after being found guilty of two charges under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act. He was handed the maximum fine of $7,000 for each charge by Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan, who said the penalties were necessary to underline the importance of honesty under oath.
The court found that Singh had deliberately lied to the Committee of Privileges (COP) about how he handled Ms Khan’s false statement in Parliament. The COP had been investigating Ms Khan after she admitted to fabricating a claim that she had accompanied a sexual assault victim to a police station. She repeated the false account in October 2021 before eventually apologising to Parliament on Nov 1 that year.
In his February judgment, Judge Tan concluded that Singh “never wanted Ms Khan to clarify (her) lie” and had “direct and intimate involvement” in encouraging her to persist with the untruth. The judge emphasised that Singh “never recanted the lie” even after the trial, making the maximum fine appropriate.
Singh pleaded not guilty and, following the verdict, told reporters outside the State Courts that he would appeal the decision. His appeal will be heard by Justice Steven Chong at the Supreme Court.
The case marks the first time in almost four decades that a sitting opposition MP has been convicted of a criminal offence.
During the 13-day trial, key witnesses included Singh, Ms Khan, her former aides Loh Pei Ying and Yudhishthra Nathan, and former WP chief Low Thia Khiang. Singh’s defence team — lawyers Andre Jumabhoy and Aristotle Eng — argued that Ms Khan was a habitual liar and had acted on her own accord. The prosecution, led by then Deputy Attorney-General Ang Cheng Hock, maintained that Singh had sought to conceal his role in her falsehood.
The prosecution requested the maximum fine, while the defence sought a lower amount of $4,000 per charge. Judge Tan ultimately sided with the prosecution, stressing the need to uphold the integrity of parliamentary testimony.
When asked if the conviction might lead him to step down, Singh responded, “Well, I think the need of the hour is for me to step up, not step down.”
Authorities confirmed that the penalties imposed did not meet the threshold to disqualify Singh from his parliamentary duties or from contesting elections.
In the May 2025 general election, Singh successfully retained his parliamentary seat in Aljunied GRC, leading the WP team to victory with 59.68 per cent of the vote share.
Image via YouTube
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