SINGAPORE: Singapore\u2019s opposition leader was fined on Monday for lying to parliament while helping a fellow party member cover up a false witness account, but narrowly avoided being barred from contesting upcoming national elections.
\nPritam Singh, 48, secretary-general of the Workers\u2019 Party, was found guilty on two counts of lying to a parliamentary committee probing a fellow MP.
\nThe conviction comes as the Southeast Asian nation\u2019s struggling political opposition is seeking to challenge the overwhelming dominance of the ruling People\u2019s Action Party (PAP) in elections expected within months.
\nThe PAP has ruled the wealthy city-state since 1959.
\nDistrict court judge Luke Tan said that contrary to what Singh told the committee, he had not done enough to get rookie MP Raeesah Khan to admit to her lie in parliament.
\nThe judge also gave credence to Khan\u2019s testimony that Singh had told her during a meeting to \u201ctake the lie to the grave.\u201d
\nSingh, who said he would appeal the court\u2019s decision, was fined S$7,000 ($5,200) for each charge.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be an easy election… we\u2019ll have to fight hard, and that\u2019s what we will do,\u201d Singh told reporters outside the court.
\n\u201cThe path of choosing opposition politics is not for the faint hearted.\u201d
\nUnder the constitution, a person fined a minimum of Sg$10,000 or jailed for at least one year, is disqualified from running for election or holding a parliamentary seat for five years.
\n\u201cHe will not be disqualified as the threshold of $10,000 fine per charge is not crossed. You can\u2019t stack up the fines,\u201d Eugene Tan, who teaches constitutional law at Singapore Management University, said.
\nThe Elections Department later confirmed this via a statement on Facebook.
\nKhan, who resigned from the legislature following the scandal, had admitted to making up a story she told in parliament about a female rape victim she accompanied to make a police report.
\nThe former MP confessed that she lied when telling parliament in 2021 that a police officer supposedly made \u201cinsensitive comments\u201d about the way the alleged victim was dressed and that she had drunk alcohol.
\nBut Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam had said there was no record in the police files of such an incident and Khan eventually admitted to lying.
\nSingh was then accused of lying to the parliamentary committee investigating Khan.
\nHe allegedly told the committee that he was not aware that Khan had made up the story about the rape victim, in an apparent attempt to downplay his responsibility as party leader, court documents said.
\nBut the judge tore through Singh\u2019s credibility as a witness.
\nIn the 2020 general elections, the PAP won 83 of the 93 seats at stake to retain its dominance.
\nThe main opposition Workers\u2019 Party captured 10 seats \u2013 four more than previously held \u2013 in its strongest performance since independence in 1965.
\nIts leaders have said they hope to further increase the party\u2019s numbers in parliament in the upcoming elections, which will be new premier Lawrence Wong\u2019s first major political test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SINGAPORE: Singapore\u2019s opposition leader was fined on Monday for lying to parliament while helping a fellow party member cover up a false witness account, but narrowly avoided being barred from contesting upcoming national elections. Pritam Singh, 48, secretary-general of the Workers\u2019 Party, was found guilty on two counts of lying to a parliamentary committee probing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-462085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n