Pritam Singh meant to tell Raeesah Khan to speak the truth, even if he didn't specifically say so: Committee report

[SINGAPORE] The day before former Workers' Party (WP) MP Raeesah Khan repeated a lie in Parliament that led to her departure from politics, party chief Pritam Singh told her that if the issue came up, she had to take "responsibility and ownership" and that he would not "judge" her if she did so.

And according to a special report released on Sunday (Dec 12) by the Committee of Privileges investigating Khan's fib, by Singh's choice of words, he had meant to tell her directly to speak the truth in Parliament - even if he did not specifically tell her to do so, in those terms.

Singh had an expectation - as opposed to an understanding - that Khan would clarify the truth if the matter was raised, said the report.

This contrasted with Khan's evidence to the committee, released on Dec 3, where she understood Singh as telling her he would not judge her for continuing the narrative based on the untruth. Singh denied this interpretation.

The report summarises evidence given by Singh, who is Leader of the Opposition, to the committee in a hearing that lasted over nine hours last Friday. It is the third report amid an ongoing investigation into Khan, a former Sengkang GRC MP who had fabricated details of a sexual assault case during a parliamentary speech on Aug 3.

According to Sunday's report, Khan confessed to Singh on Aug 7 that her anecdote of accompanying the victim to a police station "did not happen"."Mr Singh was very angry and upset when Ms Khan told him this, and ended the call," the report said.

The next day, Singh - along with party chairman Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap - met Khan, who explained that she lied because she had undergone a traumatic episode as a serious sexual assault victim herself.

Everyone was shocked, sympathetic and more concerned about her well-being, and Singh told Khan: "We'll have to deal with this issue, but speak to your parents first." He viewed that as a condition precedent to her coming clean in Parliament, said the report.

It noted that at this Aug 8 meeting, there was no substantive discussion on what to do about the lie, and Singh did not direct Khan to clarify her untruth.

According to Khan's account of the Aug 8 meeting to the committee, Singh had asked her to take her lie "to the grave" - something she texted 2 other WP members a few minutes after.

On Friday, Singh called this rendition "a complete, utter fabrication ... a bare lie".

Singh and Khan did not communicate about the incident for the next 2 months or so, until Oct 3.

During this period, Singh did not check whether Khan had spoken with her parents, nor did he discuss with her on setting out the truth at the next parliamentary sitting on Sept 13.

"Mr Singh said it was Ms Khan's responsibility to speak to him about the matter, after she had settled things with her parents. He said that he was in no position to know when that would happen," said the special report.

Khan came down with the shingles and did not attend the September sitting.

Singh and other WP leaders also did not take any steps among themselves to address the issue in those weeks. "There were no attempts that could be construed as consistent with wanting Ms Khan to come forward and come clean. Mr Singh agreed that he did nothing at this point in time," the report noted.

On Oct 1, while preparing for a debate on a law to counter foreign interference, Singh emailed all WP MPs to advise them to substantiate any statements made in Parliament, or risk facing the Committee of Privileges.

The day before the Oct 4 Parliament sitting, Singh visited Khan and told her it was entirely possible that someone might then ask her about her Aug 3 anecdote, said the report.

Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam did so, making a ministerial statement asking Ms Khan for more details of her account.

The report noted Singh telling Khan that even if the matter was not raised, she should take ownership and responsibility and clarify the truth.

Singh also said that at that point, if the matter did not come up, then he had no plans to voluntarily clarify the issue himself, because "this was something for Ms Khan to do".

After their meeting, the WP's decision-making central executive committee was not informed that Khan might admit to her lie in Parliament the next day.

The report said there was no draft of any possible Oct 4 statement prepared, and that Singh did not know what Khan was going to say.

When she stood up in the House, it was to decline to give Shanmugam further details, citing confidentiality concerns, and to affirm - falsely - that her account was true.

THE STRAITS TIMES