ELD confirms sentence imposed on Pritam Singh does not reach threshold to disqualify him as an MP

Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh, who was fined a total of $14,000 for lying to a parliamentary committee, will not lose his seat and be disqualified from standing in the upcoming general election, said the Elections Department (ELD) on Feb 17.

Disqualification from being an MP under the Constitution is based on the sentence imposed for a single offence, the ELD said in its reply to The Straits Times’ request for comment.

This means that if a person is charged with multiple offences and the sentence imposed for each of those offences does not reach the disqualification threshold of imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or a fine of not less than $10,000, the person is not disqualified from being an MP, it said.

“The respective sentences for separate offences cannot be added together for this purpose,” it added.

The clarification came after a district court found Singh guilty on two counts of lying under oath to the Parliament’s Committee of Privileges convened in November 2021 to look into the lying controversy involving former WP MP Raeesah Khan.

Singh was sentenced to the maximum fine of $7,000 for each charge, for a total fine of $14,000.

The Leader of the Opposition said outside the court that he intended to appeal against both the conviction and the sentence.

The sentence had put a question mark over Singh’s political future, with an election just months away. The general election is due by November 2025 and could be held by mid-year.

The ELD confirmed what legal experts had earlier told ST, that it is unlikely Singh would be disqualified and barred from standing in the election, even if he was found guilty on both charges.

The uncertainty – prior to the ELD’s clarification – arose as the Constitution states that a sitting MP will lose his seat and be disqualified from standing for election if he is jailed for at least one year, or fined at least $10,000.

This had led to questions on whether a composite fine of more than $10,000 would cause Singh to lose his Aljunied seat, even though the maximum fine that Singh faced for each charge is $7,000.

Singh is the first person in post-independence Singapore to be convicted 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 committees.

The offence carries a fine of up to $7,000 and a jail term of up to three years, or both.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

AGC urges public to avoid ‘baseless claims’ against judiciary after WP chief Pritam Singh’s conviction WP chief Pritam Singh fined $7,000 for each of two charges after conviction for lying to committee