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Verdict for Pritam Singh trial fixed for Feb 17 next year after defence closes case without calling witnesses
Both the prosecution and the defence will submit arguments for their respective cases in January next year.
Deputy Attorney-General Ang Cheng Hock (left), Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh (centre) and Singh's lawyer Andre Jumabhoy. (Photos: Attorney-General's Chambers, CNA)
Koh Wan Ting & Abigail Ng
08 Nov 2024 05:34PM (Updated: 13 Nov 2024 03:14PM)
SINGAPORE: The verdict for the case of Workers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh was fixed for Feb 17, 2025, after his trial came to a close on Friday (Nov 8).
The defence closed its case on Friday afternoon after less than half an hour of re-examining Singh.
His lawyer Andre Jumabhoy had, until then, remained mum on whether the defence would be calling witnesses to the stand. After a ten-minute break to confer with Singh following his re-examination, Mr Jumabhoy told Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan that the defence would be closing its case and did not call any witnesses.
That means the remaining three days of the trial, from Nov 11 to Nov 13, will be vacated. A total of 13 days have passed in the trial, which opened on Oct 14. Its first tranche concluded on Oct 24 and it resumed on Nov 5.
Earlier in the morning, the prosecution, represented by Deputy Attorney-General Ang Cheng Hock, completed its cross-examination of Singh after three days of questions.
Mr Singh was called to the stand on Tuesday after Judge Tan found that he had a case to answer.
Singh, 48, is contesting two charges under Section 31(q) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act for allegedly lying to a Committee of Privileges (COP) on Dec 10 and Dec 15, 2021. This was in relation to a false anecdote former WP MP Raeesah Khan shared in parliament on Aug 3, 2021.
Ms Khan lied about about accompanying a rape victim to a police station, where the victim had been mistreated.
Singh's first charge relates to an Aug 8, 2021, meeting between Ms Khan and WP leaders. Singh allegedly lied when he said he wanted Ms Khan to clarify her untruth in parliament at this meeting.
His second charge alleges that Singh gave false answers to the COP when he said that he told Ms Khan on Oct 3, 2021, to clarify her story about the rape survivor if the issue came up in parliament the next day.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT
After Mr Jumabhoy closed the defence's case, parties discussed court dates for closing and reply submissions to be uploaded.Closing submissions are documents where the prosecution and the defence reiterate their cases. Reply submissions are documents where each side replies to the other's closing submissions.
Thereafter, the court can reconvene to hear oral arguments for these submissions or proceed directly to a verdict.
Before Judge Tan, both sides said they could not come to an agreement on the timeline. Mr Jumabhoy asked for closing submissions to be uploaded by Jan 13, 2025, and for replies to be uploaded by Feb 17, citing how members of the team will be on leave at various points in time, including Singh, who will be on leave from Dec 3 to Dec 15.
Judge Tan then noted that members of the defence team did not have to be together all the time to work on submissions and Mr Ang said that the interval was too long.
The judge then told Mr Ang that there was nothing to stop the prosecution from submitting its documents earlier, to laughter in the court.
Eventually, the judge asked for closing submissions to be uploaded by Jan 13 and replies to be made by Jan 31.
He fixed the verdict for Feb 17, but left it up to parties to arrange with the court if they needed a hearing before that for oral arguments.
If convicted, Singh, who is an MP for Aljunied GRC, faces up to three years' jail, a fine of up to S$7,000 (US$5,290), or both for each charge.
The prosecution has said that it will only be seeking a fine for each charge, but has not specified the quantum it will seek.
Under the Constitution, anyone fined at least S$10,000 or jailed for at least a year is disqualified from standing for election to become a member of parliament.
A sitting MP who receives such penalties will lose their seat. The disqualification lasts for five years.
