WP chief Pritam Singh appears in court to appeal against conviction, sentence

Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh has turned up in Supreme Court on Tuesday morning (Nov 4) to appeal against his conviction and sentence for lying to a parliamentary committee.

The 48-year-old, who was wearing blue, arrived at about 9.35am. He was accompanied by his legal team including defence lawyers Andre Jumabhoy and Aristotle Eng.

When asked by the media how he was feeling, Singh said: "Same way I feel every morning, which is great."

The Workers' Party (WP) chief was fined a total of $14,000 on Feb 17 after being found guilty of giving false testimony to the Committee of Privileges (COP), which had been convened to probe a lie told by former WP MP Raeesah Khan.

He was found guilty of two charges lying to a parliamentary committee.

He pleaded not guilty during the 13-day trial and after the sentencing, a media statement posted on Singh's Facebook page said that his lawyers will be appealing his conviction and sentence.

"I have instructed my legal team to file a notice of appeal and to look into the written judgment in closer detail," the WP chief said.

'Untruthful' under oath

Singh had faced two charges under Section 31(q) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act which makes it an offence to lie in response to questions posed by Parliament or its committee.

For each charge, Singh faces a maximum fine of $7,000, a jail term of up to three years, or both.

This is with regard to his testimony over former WP Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan's lies in Parliament in August 2021.

Khan, in Parliament, brought up a sexual assault case where she accused the police of mishandling the incident. She later apologised and revealed that this was a lie.

In November 2021, a Committee of Privileges found that Singh was "untruthful in their evidence under oath" when he was called as a witness.

Singh had purportedly lied to the Committee about his meetings with Khan, where he claimed he had tried to convince the latter to clarify her untruths in Parliament.

His trial began on Oct 14, 2024.

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