Pritam Singh trial: Excerpts of key exchanges on Day 3 between defence lawyer and Raeesah Khan

SINGAPORE: The trial of Pritam Singh, Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party (WP) chief, entered its third day on Wednesday (Oct 16) with the defence resuming its cross-examination of Ms Raeesah Khan.
Singh, 48, is contesting two charges of lying in parliament before a Committee of Privileges (COP) that had been convened in 2021 to look into a false anecdote related by Ms Khan.
She had lied during a WP motion in parliament about accompanying a rape victim to a police station, where a police officer allegedly made comments about the woman’s attire and consumption of alcohol.
Ms Khan is the first witness for the prosecution. In her turn on the stand so far, she has stated that she maintained her lie after the first time she told it in parliament on Aug 3, 2021, because of what Singh or other party leaders said to her.
Here are some excerpts of key exchanges between Singh’s lawyer, Mr Andre Jumabhoy, and Ms Khan.
1. Mr Jumabhoy points out a contradiction between Singh first saying in an email there are “serious consequences” to giving an untruth in parliament, versus telling Ms Khan there was “no judgment” if she continued her “narrative”.
Mr Jumabhoy: The email he’s referring to is the one where he says there are serious consequences right? On the other hand, he’s now telling you there’s no judgment to continue the narrative. That’s simply absurd.
Ms Khan: No.
Mr Jumabhoy: So absurd, in fact, that it didn’t happen.
Ms Khan: No.
Mr Jumabhoy: He never told you to continue the narrative.
Ms Khan: (with conviction) Yes, he did.
Mr Jumabhoy: If he had said two contradictory things, on the one hand, showed you the email, talked about serious consequences and on the other hand, told you there’s no judgment, any reasonable person would’ve said – what on earth are you talking about.
Ms Khan: Any reasonable person would question why he didn’t ask for more preparation then, if he wanted me to come out and tell the truth! Because he told me to continue the narrative, “I won’t judge you”, and then he left it at that.
2. In relation to Mr Jumabhoy’s argument that Ms Khan was not a greenhorn and did not need a directive to tell the truth in parliament.
Mr Jumabhoy: I know the prosecution has said you were 27 at the time, so you’re not a teenager.
Ms Khan: No.
Mr Jumabhoy: They’ve described you as a rookie member of parliament. But you’ve been in parliament for over 13 months, haven’t you?
Ms Khan: Yes.
Mr Jumabhoy: So it’s not the case that it’s your first time through the door.
Deputy Attorney-General Ang Cheng Hock: What’s the question
Mr Jumabhoy: It’s not the case that it’s your first time through the door. I mean parliament.
Mr Ang: The question has to be clarified.
Mr Jumabhoy: It’s not the first time she’s been at a parliament sitting as an MP.
Ms Khan: Ok, no.
Mr Jumabhoy: And you know, don’t you, right from wrong?
Ms Khan: Yes.
Mr Jumabhoy: And you say there was no directive from Mr Singh to tell the truth … you don’t need a directive to lie, when you lied in parliament. You don’t need a directive when you lied to your friends.
Ms Khan: Can you explain when I lied to my friends
Mr Jumabhoy: This issue. On Oct 3 (2021). And you certainly didn’t need a directive when you lied to Mr Singh.
Ms Khan: Yes.
Mr Jumabhoy: So, you seem, according to you, to need a directive to tell the truth.
Ms Khan: Because when I made a mistake, I wanted advice. I wanted to go to my leaders for advice. You say it’s not my first foot in the door or parliament but this is compared to leaders who have had so many years of experience so naturally when I’ve done something wrong I go to my leaders and I ask them what should I do, because I’m terrified that I’ve made this mistake.
Mr Jumabhoy: You don’t need a directive to tell the truth, do you.
Ms Khan: No.
3. On how Ms Khan drafted a statement to Minister K Shanmugam maintaining her lie (that she never actually delivered) without Singh’s involvement. This was after Mr Shanmugam pressed her in parliament on Oct 4, 2021, for more details on the police station visit.
Mr Jumabhoy: The fact that he hasn’t got involved, and the reason why you (were) unsure what to do, is because Mr Singh never told you to lie.
Ms Khan: How do you come to that conclusion.
Mr Jumabhoy: Do you agree or not?
Ms Khan: What was your question?
Mr Jumabhoy: The fact that Mr Singh doesn’t tell you how to respond, doesn’t tell you how to draft the message, doesn’t respond to your message …
(After some clarifications from Ms Khan)
Ms Khan: I didn’t make this statement in parliament. It was just a draft in my phone.
Mr Jumabhoy: Drafted by you. No involvement by Mr Singh.
Ms Khan: No, because I was drafting it in my phone, I typed it in my own phone.
Mr Jumabhoy: The fact that there was no involvement by Mr Singh in all of this is because he had never told you to lie.
Ms Khan: The reason I lied again is because he came to my house, and he assured me that he wouldn’t judge me if I continued the narrative.
Mr Jumabhoy: I will ask the question again. The fact that there was no involvement by Mr Singh, is because he never told you to lie. You agree?
Ms Khan: No.
4. In relation to “bad advice” given by the WP leadership, allegedly to maintain her lie.
Mr Jumabhoy: So wouldn’t you naturally have been fuming, angry, at the way (the party leadership … led you to the position you find yourself in)?
Ms Khan: I think I was. I mean the only emotion I remember was just really, really, really terrified. Um. And just trusting in what the leaders wanted me to do, because on the same day of the (parliament) sitting on Oct 4, 2021, when I asked Pritam what should I do, and he didn’t respond, and he said we’ll talk later. 
We met in his office later that night and again he said, you know, well, he said … I said, what if I tell the truth or something like that and he said “well it’s too late now isn’t it”, and at that point in time on Oct 5 all these messages, it’s like, I’ve dug a hole, and I mean, how do I get out of it? I mean, just keep digging.
5. Mr Jumabhoy on messages Ms Khan sent to her friends, then-WP cadres Ms Loh Pei Ying and Mr Yudhishthra Nathan.
Mr Jumabhoy: You say – Pritam has been actually really great. You see that?
Ms Khan: Um, let me read these messages.
Mr Jumabhoy: You only need to read this message.
Ms Khan: No. Where do I say that.
Mr Jumabhoy: Oct 5, 2021. “Pritam has actually been really great.”
Ms Khan: Ah ok. Yes, I see that. Yes.
Mr Jumabhoy: So on Oct 5, while this was all blowing up, your message is – Pritam has actually been really great. Immediately after, you add, “Sylvia, too”. And this is to your group of friends. So the people you are praising at this stage are the people who had told you to lie.Ms Khan: I don’t think it was about them telling me to lie, but it was about them taking time to advise me and what I saw as compassion from them at the time.
6. Mr Jumabhoy accuses Ms Khan of not confronting the WP disciplinary panel – comprising Singh, WP chair Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap – for their alleged advice to continue her anecdote. 
Ms Khan: I think the context that is missing here is the power dynamics in that meeting. I mean it’s three – to me – very very powerful people and imagine that these are the people that have been advising you and suddenly … (in) the last one they pretend like or they didn’t even mention they are the ones advising you. I  was shocked I honestly was dumbfounded because it kind of felt like to them it didn’t happen. 
Mr Jumabhoy: Can I get an answer to my question? You don’t say anything to say it was you guys who were telling me what to do.
Ms Khan: No I don’t.
Mr Jumabhoy: In that meeting … Mr Singh (is) saying to you before the October session I met you plus told you it was your call. Did (the) need to tell truth in parliament occur to you? 
Ms Khan: Yes, but consumed with guilt (and my) own experience, (I) thought it wouldn’t come up. 
Mr Jumabhoy: And then Mr Singh says, says can’t lie right? And you say yes
Ms Khan: Yes.
Mr Jumabhoy: Again in this session. No doubt in your mind from the questioning by Mr Singh (and) what’s recorded there, that he was putting this squarely on you. 
Ms Khan: I mean at that point in time I still thought they had the best intentions for me and I didn’t realise this was what they were doing. If I did realise that, I would’ve said look I know that it’s a very tough situation but you also advised me the entire way. I would’ve said that if at that point in time … or if I knew they did not have the best intentions of me.
7. Ms Khan testifies that the WP disciplinary panel seemed to be gathering evidence to show that the leaders had not advised her to maintain the lie. 
Ms Khan: I mean I didn’t know to what extent they were doing that. I didn’t know they were taking down notes, they were almost now retrospectively almost looks (like) they were gathering enough evidence to point to the fact that they didn’t advise me in the first place. I didn’t know that. I went in thinking these three leaders … had my best interests at heart. And when you’re confronted by these people you view of as giants, it’s very hard to confront them in a negative way and I didn’t do that at either of the disciplinary panel meetings.
Mr Jumabhoy: You didn’t answer my question. In the text message (Singh) sent you, you knew exactly what he was doing.
Ms Khan: I just said in my answer. I didn’t know the extent.
Mr Jumabhoy: You’ve told us “that’s why I sent it to your friends”.
Ms Khan raises her voice: Yes because at that point in time I mean I didn’t know to what extent he would go to absolve himself. 
Mr Jumabhoy: And then we get to the meeting itself. And he’s saying to you “I met you plus told you it was your call. Did the need to tell the truth in parliament occur to you.” Your answer recorded here is not “I followed what you said”. Your answer is you were consumed with guilt plus your own experience. And that you thought it wouldn’t come up.
Ms Khan: Yes because at that point in time it felt scary to me to confront someone like that to say look, and mind you, there were three people in front of me, I was alone, and you know, it was kind of like, question after question, barrage of questions and then I mean it felt like it was three against one, and how am I in that position be able to say ‘look the three of you are kind of blaming me for this entire thing’. I know I’ve taken full responsibility of what happened but it was a very scary prospect for me to sit there and say ‘look you told me what to do’. What would the response have been?