Pritam Singh trial adjourned as lead lawyer is sick; set to resume on 23 Oct

SINGAPORE: The trial of Workers’ Party (WP) chief and Leader of the Opposition, Pritam Singh, will not proceed today (22 October) after the court was informed that his lead lawyer, Mr Andre Jumabhoy, is unwell. After over an hour's delay to the proceedings on 22 October, Singh's other lawyer, Mr Aristotle Emmanuel Eng Zhen Yang, informed the court that Mr Jumabhoy had received a medical certificate declaring him unfit for court for two days. Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan approved the defence's application to stand down the trial until the afternoon of 23 October. Mr Eng stated that he would provide an update to the court in the morning regarding Mr Jumabhoy’s condition and whether the proceedings could resume at 2.30pm. Originally scheduled to begin at 11am on 22 October, the trial was delayed until approximately 12.20pm as lawyers from both sides consulted with the judge in chambers. Mr Singh is facing two charges of lying to a parliamentary committee about his handling of former WP Member of Parliament (MP) Raeesah Khan’s 2021 admission that she had lied in Parliament regarding a false anecdote of sexual assault case. Both the prosecution and defence had been awaiting the judge's decision on an application made by Mr Jumabhoy the previous day. This application sought to tender former WP cadre Yudhishthra Nathan’s unredacted messages from 4 to 12 October 2021, in court. Mr Jumabhoy also requested the redacted versions of these messages between Mr Nathan, fellow WP cadre Loh Pei Ying, and Ms Raeesah Khan, along with the reasons Mr Nathan had provided to the Committee of Privileges (COP) for the redactions. Mr Jumabhoy argued that this was a reasonable line of inquiry, as it directly pertains to the credibility of Mr Nathan and Ms Loh's testimonies. However, the prosecution objected, asserting that the COP's findings and the redacted messages are not relevant to the criminal trial. Deputy Attorney-General Ang Cheng Hock highlighted that Singh’s first charge relates to a meeting with Ms Khan on 8 August 2021, while the second charge concerns a subsequent meeting on 3 October 2021. He pointed out that the redacted messages pertain to a time after these meetings. Judge Tan stated on 21 October that part of the prosecution's case relies on the meeting between Singh, Mr Nathan, and Ms Loh on 12 October, making the credibility of the two WP cadres a significant issue, as it “goes to whether their evidence is to be believed or not.” The judge indicated that he would review the message logs alongside evidence from Mr Nathan before making a decision. Ms Khan had, on 3 August 2021, recounted an account of accompanying a sexual assault victim to a police station, claiming the victim was treated insensitively. She repeated this claim before the House on 4 October of the same year, before admitting to the falsehood on 1 November 2021. For each charge, Mr Singh faces a maximum penalty of a S$7,000 fine, a jail term of up to three years, or both. The defence is expected to conclude its cross-examination of Mr Nathan on 23 October. Following the completion of the prosecution's re-examination of Mr Nathan, it is anticipated that former WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang will be called as the next witness. The trial, scheduled for 16 days in total, will see its first tranche conclude on Thursday. The second tranche, consisting of seven days, will begin on 5 November, with intermittent breaks throughout.