Workers' Party MPs receive nearly $500,000 in public donations to fund AHTC lawsuits

SINGAPORE - The Workers' Party (WP) town councillors embroiled in multimillion-dollar lawsuits over alleged improper payments have raised nearly half a million to fund their legal fees, a day after launching an online crowdsourcing appeal.

As of 10pm on Thursday (Oct 25), WP chairman Sylvia Lim, secretary-general Pritam Singh and former chief Low Thia Khiang have collected a total of $477,653 from 2,832 donors, they said in an update on their blog In Good Faith.

The trio first sought the public's help on Wednesday evening, saying that they have spent close to $600,000 so far on the legal battle, using their savings and contributions from friends.

This has "depleted our personal resources", they said.

"We need financial resources to fight the legal battle and to deal with the prospect of being made a bankrupt," they added.

Within a few hours after the appeal went online on Wednesday night, the MPs raised at least $65,000.

The MPs sought public contributions via bank transfer, cheque and to Ms Lim's PayNow account. They also asked donors to include an e-mail address so they could thank them.

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In a post on WP's Facebook page on Friday morning, the party clarified that the three MPs are undertaking a private fund-raising effort and it is not raising funds for them.

WP said that it has "nothing to do with that effort" and urged the public to be wary of donating money to anyone claiming to represent the party.

"We also urge supporters not to use the Workers' Party logo or make any claims to represent the party in their personal efforts to promote the private fund-raising," the post said.

The trio and two other town councillors are facing two suits over $33.7 million in alleged improper payments - one brought by Aljunied-Hougang Town Council as directed by an independent panel, and the other by Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council.

The suits claim that the quintet breached their fiduciary duties, and have to repay the improper payments made.

They are represented by Senior Counsel Chelva Rajah from Tan, Rajah & Cheah in the case now before the High Court. The trial, which began on Oct 5, is scheduled to run until Nov 2.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.