WP Pritam Singh on Trial Part 8 - Ex WP Admits Urging Raeesah Khan to Lie in Trail

On October 21, former Workers’ Party (WP) member Yudhishthra Nathan testified against WP leader Pritam Singh in a trial centered around allegations that Singh misled the Committee of Privileges (COP) regarding a lie told by former WP MP Raeesah Khan in parliament. Nathan, who left the party in 2022 after six years, admitted under cross-examination that he had considered encouraging Khan to maintain her false statement due to the party’s lack of a clear plan for her to come clean.

Khan had falsely claimed in parliament on August 3, 2021, that she accompanied a rape survivor to a police station where the police questioned the victim's attire and alcohol consumption. Although Singh and WP chair Sylvia Lim told her to tell the truth in a meeting on October 12, 2021, Khan only admitted the lie on November 1, 2021, and revealed that she herself was a survivor of sexual assault.

During cross-examination by Singh’s lawyer, Andre Jumabhoy, Nathan acknowledged he was initially in favor of having Khan lie further due to the party's failure to develop a proper plan for addressing the issue. Nathan said he vacillated between wanting Khan to maintain the lie and waiting for WP leaders to devise a solution.

Nathan also testified about a meeting on August 10, 2021, where he claimed Singh made an offensive remark regarding conservative religious men and their views on having an MP who had been raped. Singh’s lawyer accused Nathan of fabricating the comment, pointing out its absence in his previous account to the COP, but Nathan stood by his statement.

Singh faces charges for allegedly lying to the COP about the instructions given to Khan concerning her false statements in parliament.

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