SINGAPORE – Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh was accused of contradicting himself in statements to court and a parliamentary committee as he took the stand for the second day of a trial over his alleged lies.

On November 6, Deputy Attorney General Ang Cheng Hock put it to Singh that he had given contradictory statements about interactions he had with former Sengkang GRC member Raeesah Khan.

Singh had testified under questioning from his lawyer, Andre Jumabhoy, the day before.

The opposition leader is fighting two charges over lying to the Committee on Privileges (COP) that on 8 August and 3 October 2021 he wanted Khan to clarify his lie to Parliament.

The truth about what happened between the two leading up to and after her lies has become a central point of contention between the prosecution and the defense.

Here are the key points from Singh’s cross-examination:

1. Prosecution: What Singh told the COP about the October 3 meeting with Khan contradicts what he told the court

Mr Ang questioned Singh’s accounts of his expectations for Khan on October 4, 2021 – the day she repeated her lie in Parliament.

He said: “I’m telling you it’s contradictory. You’ve told the court she doesn’t have to clarify (her lie) if it’s not brought up, but at the police you’ve told the police that whether it’s brought up, it was very clear that what you told her was that she had to clarify the next day.

“My question is, so what is the truth?”

Singh said the truth was what he said in court.

He said it was clear from his COP response that if the issue had come up in Parliament on October 4, he would have expected her to clarify the matter. But even if it didn’t, that would have to be clarified “at some point,” he added.

Singh said in retrospect that it was possible that his words during the COP inquiry suggested that Khan would have to make a personal statement.

“But elsewhere in the COP report I make it abundantly clear that she would have to clarify the October 4 statement if it came up.”

To this, Ang asked again if what Singh told the court was true and if what he told the COP was not true.

Singh disagreed with this. He said: “I think my frame of mind… was on October 3, she would have to clarify.”