Timeline: How a lie by Raeesah Khan led to Pritam Singh being charged with lying

SINGAPORE: Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh was charged in court on Tuesday (Mar 19) with lying before a parliamentary committee, in relation to a lie that his party’s former lawmaker Raeesah Khan told in the House in 2021.

Singh, who is also Leader of the Opposition, faces two charges under Section 31(q) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act. He pleaded not guilty.

Here's a timeline of key events over the last few years.

Aug 3, 2021: Ms Khan gave a speech during a WP motion in parliament on empowering women. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Sengkang GRC at the time.

She talked about accompanying a sexual assault survivor to the police station three years earlier, saying the 25-year-old woman came out crying. "The police officer had allegedly made comments about her dressing, and the fact that she was drinking,” Ms Khan added.

Asked for more details so that authorities could investigate, Ms Khan said she did not wish to re-traumatise the survivor. She also had not succeeded in contacting the woman since the incident.

Later, Ms Khan exchanged text messages with Singh. He said he had highlighted this part in her draft speech, and asked her to address the matter because she had it on record.

Aug 7, 2021: Ms Khan admitted to Singh that her anecdote was untrue.

Aug 8, 2021: Ms Khan met Singh, WP chair Sylvia Lim and party leader Faisal Manap. She told them she had lied and had no way of substantiating her statements in parliament.

She later texted her secretarial assistant Loh Peiying and a WP volunteer Yudhishthra Nathan, saying the WP leaders had agreed at the meeting that “the best thing to do is take the information to the grave”.

Aug 10, 2021: Singh confirmed with Ms Loh - who was previously his secretarial assistant from 2013 to 2016 - and Mr Nathan that he was informed about Ms Khan lying. 

From August to September that year, Ms Khan continued with her MP duties, and there was no further discussion on the lie. This period included a parliamentary sitting on Sep 13, 2021 which Singh later acknowledged as an opportunity for the truth to be clarified - but no steps were taken.

Oct 3, 2021: Singh met Ms Khan at her home to speak about the matter. He told her the issue could come up in parliament the next day.

He also told her he would not judge her; and did not tell her to tell the truth.

Singh later testified to a parliamentary committee that he told her "to take responsibility and ownership of the issue" if it came up, and he that he would "not judge her" if she did so.

He said it was "very clear" that she had to tell the truth if the issue was raised; if it was not, she did not need to clarify.

However, Ms Khan testified that he said there would be no judgment if she chose to stick with her narrative rather than come clean.

The committee found that Singh's actions "strongly pointed" Ms Khan towards continuing the untruth. He did not tell her to proactively raise the matter; nor was there any preparation for the sitting the next day, the parliament body noted.

Oct 4, 2021: In parliament, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam called on Ms Khan to provide further details but she declined, citing the need for confidentiality.

Mr Shanmugam was delivering a ministerial statement where he said such allegations about the police are taken “very seriously”.

He asked Ms Khan to confirm she had accompanied the victim to the police station; she affirmed it. The minister said the police would continue to investigate and would invite Ms Khan for an interview.

She later met with Singh and Ms Lim in parliament. They did not tell her to clarify at the sitting on the next day (Oct 5).

The parliamentary committee later noted that Singh did not confront Ms Khan after she repeated her untruth, or demand an explanation.

Oct 7, 2021: The police told Ms Khan that they wanted to interview her.

Oct 12, 2021: WP leaders told Ms Khan to tell the truth in parliament, and she agreed to do so.

Oct 20, 2021: The police said Ms Khan had not responded to requests asking her for details on the case.

Nov 1, 2021: Ms Khan gave a statement in parliament, admitting she had lied about accompanying the survivor to the police station.

She had in fact heard the anecdote in a support group and wanted to share the account, but did not want to reveal that she herself was a survivor of sexual assault.

Leader of the House Indranee Rajah then raised a complaint under the Standing Orders of Parliament, alleging a breach in parliamentary privilege.

Singh posted on WP’s official Facebook page that evening, saying Ms Khan should not have shared an account that contained untruths. He added that Ms Khan had shared with him that she wanted to set the record straight in parliament.

In this statement, he did not mention his or the other WP leaders' involvement in or knowledge of the matter.

Nov 2, 2021: WP announced a disciplinary panel to look into Ms Khan’s admissions. Upon Singh's proposal, the panel comprised himself, Ms Lim and Mr Faisal.

At this time, the WP's decision-making Central Executive Committee continued to remain unaware that the trio had known of Ms Khan's lie since Aug 8, or that they had been involved in discussions after. 

Nov 8, 2021: Ms Khan attended a disciplinary panel meeting to explain why she lied in parliament. She said it centred on her performance as an MP, rather than the Aug 3 speech.

Nov 27, 2021: The Office of the Clerk of Parliament said the Committee of Privileges, which looks into any complaint alleging breaches of parliamentary privilege, had begun its work on the complaint against Ms Khan.

Nov 29, 2021: Ms Khan attended another WP disciplinary panel meeting.

Nov 30, 2021: Ms Khan resigned from WP and as an MP.

Dec 2, 2021: WP leaders held a press conference to explain the events.

Singh revealed that party leadership learned about Ms Khan’s lies a week after her original speech in August. He said she repeated the untruth despite being asked to clarify the matter.

Singh explained that after Ms Khan’s speech, he asked her to “make her best efforts to contact the victim or to contact the individuals” involved. 

He said he wanted Ms Khan to tell her family members about her own sexual assault before she fully addressed the reasons behind her untruthful conduct in parliament.

Singh added that when Ms Khan repeated her lies in parliament in October, she agreed with party leadership that she had to set the record right forthwith. The next earliest opportunity was on Nov 1.

When asked why the claim was allowed to remain uncorrected, Mr Singh said: “Each Workers’ Party MP is a leader in his or her own right. And if you have done something wrong, it is your responsibility to set the record right.”

Dec 3, 2021: The Committee of Privileges released its first special report to parliament, after hearing evidence from Ms Khan and three other WP members on Dec 2 and Dec 3.

The report contradicted Singh’s account of what had happened.

It stated that at Ms Khan's Aug 8 meeting with Singh, Ms Lim and Mr Faisal, the WP leaders had told her to “continue with the narrative” and to not respond to police enquiries.

When asked by the privileges committee, Ms Khan said that if the WP leadership had told her to come clean to parliament in October, or to assist the police and tell the truth, she would have done so.

She did neither – because they told Ms Khan there would be no judgment if she did not clarify the truth in parliament, according to the report.

Dec 11, 2021: The Committee of Privileges released its second special report, detailing Mr Faisal’s testimony.

Mr Faisal gave evidence that WP leaders did not tell Ms Khan to continue lying in parliament, contrary to the WhatsApp message she sent to WP cadres Loh and Nathan about taking the information to the grave.

Nevertheless, he affirmed that he, Singh and Ms Lim knew about the lie for months but did not reveal it to other party leaders or cadres. 

Mr Faisal accepted that it was “bad to lie to parliament” and agreed it was equally wrong to let a lie carry on in parliament.

He also agreed that after he became aware of Ms Khan’s lie, it would have been logical for him to ask if Ms Khan intended to clarify the lie, at various points during the events that later transpired.

Dec 12, 2021: The privileges committee released its third special report with Singh’s testimony.

The WP chief denied asking Ms Khan to take the lie to the grave, suggesting she could have done so because of “disassociation”.

However he agreed that from Aug 8 to Oct 4, he did not see any steps being taken to suggest "coming clean”. 

He also did not specifically tell Ms Khan to admit the truth, despite having communicated with her on multiple occasions.

Dec 14, 2021: The privileges committee released its fourth special report with Ms Lim’s testimony.

Ms Lim said she was frustrated when she heard Ms Khan repeat her lie on Oct 4. 

But she did not think Ms Khan could clarify the untruth at a parliamentary sitting the next day, because time was needed to carefully structure Ms Khan’s statement.

Dec 15, 2021: The privileges committee released its fifth special report containing more evidence from Singh, who was recalled to clarify his version of events.

Singh testified that notes of an exchange between him and Ms Khan on Nov 29 at a WP disciplinary panel meeting were accurate.

The notes had been provided by Ms Lim, and recorded Ms Khan agreeing that she was told it was “your call” whether to tell the truth before the October parliamentary sitting.

Singh maintained he had not told Ms Khan that she could choose whether to admit she had lied. But he said his words could have been interpreted that way.

Dec 22, 2021: The privileges committee released its sixth special report on testimony given by psychiatrist Christopher Cheok, a senior consultant from the Institute of Mental Health. It came after Singh suggested Ms Khan suffers from dissociation.

Dr Cheok assessed that Ms Khan did not suffer from any significant psychiatric disorder that would impair her ability to speak truthfully.

Ms Khan reiterated her claim that Singh told her to take her lie “to the grave”. She also said she never told the WP disciplinary panel that she suffered from dissociation; but that she could have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Feb 10, 2022: The privileges committee released its findings on Ms Khan’s conduct.

It found her guilty of abuse of parliamentary privilege, and recommended that she be fined S$35,000 for lying in parliament and repeating the lie.

The committee also proposed that Singh and Mr Faisal be referred to the public prosecutor for further investigations.

Specifically for Singh, it was "with a view to considering if criminal proceedings ought to be instituted in respect of his conduct before the Committee”.

The committee recommended that Mr Faisal also be investigated for refusing to answer relevant questions from the Committee, and to also consider if criminal proceedings ought to be instituted.

The committee wrote: "We are satisfied that Mr Singh (and to a lesser extent, Mr Faisal and Ms Lim), have been untruthful in their evidence, under oath, to this Committee. This may amount to perjury, a serious criminal offence.”

The committee found that from Aug 8 onwards, Ms Khan was acting under the guidance of both leaders and Ms Lim to “keep to the untruth”. On Oct 3, she was given further guidance by Singh to continue lying, the committee added.

The committee said it recognised that "her mental health has been unfairly and publicly attacked, in particular, by Mr Singh”.

Feb 11, 2022: WP released a statement addressing the committee's recommendations.

It noted the developments “with grave concern”, and said that both leaders would cooperate with the public prosecutor and defend themselves in court if charges are brought.

Then-Speaker of Parliament Tan Chun-Jin subsequently said that attempts to politicise the committee’s findings were “regrettable”.

Feb 15, 2022: MPs debated the committee’s findings in parliament.

After more than four hours, the House voted to proceed to fine Ms Khan S$35,000, as well as to refer Singh and Mr Faisal to the public prosecutor.

Explaining why the two party leaders should be referred for criminal prosecution instead of being fined, and why the courts should be involved at all, Ms Indranee pointed to the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act.

It details a category of offences which “essentially, pervert, obstruct or prevent the processes of parliament”, she said. For these, parliament has the power to refer cases to the public prosecutor.

She added that it did so for Singh because of the “seriousness” of his conduct before the parliamentary privileges committee.

Singh rejected the committee’s findings, and said that “gaps and omissions” in the report suggested political partisanship. He added that he intended to clear his name and would cooperate fully.

Apr 29, 2022: The police said Singh’s and Mr Faisal’s cases had been referred by the public prosecutor to the police, and that it would be engaging relevant people as part of investigations.