Pritam Singh trial: Ex-WP cadre admits breaching explicit instructions not to discuss evidence to COP hearing

Former Workers' Party (WP) member Yudhishthra Nathan admitted in court on Monday (Oct 21) that he had disregarded clear instructions not to discuss evidence that he was supposed to provide to the Committee of Privileges (COP).

Nathan was cross-examined by Pritam Singh's lawyer, Andre Jumabhoy, on the sixth day of the WP chief's ongoing trial.

During his cross-examination, Jumabhoy asked the ex-WP cadre if he remembered speaking to fellow member Loh Pei Ying about which text messages to redact when providing evidence to the Committee of Privileges regarding former Sengkang MP Raeesah Khan's conduct in Parliament.

Nathan said he and Loh spoke about the overall redaction process, adding that he had told her that he believed private views expressed to Khan after Oct 4, 2021 were "immaterial".

The defence lawyer then asked Nathan if he was aware Loh had been told not to discuss her evidence with anybody, and whether Nathan had also been explicitly warned not to do so.

"And you leave Parliament, and you do exactly that?" he asked, to which Nathan answered: "Yes."

Jumabhoy then asked if Nathan's actions were in breach of what he was told not to do, effectively ignoring Parliament's instructions.

"At that point of time, yes," Nathan said.

Throughout the cross-examination, Nathan was grilled by the defence lawyer regarding details about his interactions with Khan and Singh prior to the COP hearing in December 2021.

Low Thia Khiang makes brief appearance

Former WP chief Low Thia Khiang was seen arriving at the State Courts just after 1pm, while proceedings paused for lunch.

He was spotted leaving the building at around 4.05pm, three hours after he arrived.

The veteran politician, who was succeeded by Singh in 2018, will be testifying as a prosecution witness in the trial sometime this week.

When asked by the media why he was leaving, Low said that it was not his turn to testify yet.

Unredacted messages from Nathan to be revealed

Following the cross-examination, the defence applied to the court for copies of both Nathan's unredacted and redacted versions of COP evidence, with reasons for the redactions.

Jumabhoy explained that this is a reasonable line of inquiry as it goes directly to whether Nathan and Loh's testimonies are credible.

"I'm not here to challenge the findings of the COP… (but) these witnesses’ credibility is very much an issue," he said.

Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan granted the request and asked for the prosecution to prepare the documents for him to review on Tuesday, alongside the message logs already submitted as evidence, before he makes a decision on the matter.

"While the messages in question were sent after Oct 4, 2021, they might relate to the testimonies of Mr Yudhishthra Nathan and Ms Loh Pei Ying about their meeting with Pritam Singh on Oct 12, 2021," the judge said.

"So the issue of their credibility, especially leading up to the 12th, and even on the 12th, is an issue. Because it goes to whether their evidence is to be believed or not."

In response, Deputy Attorney-General Ang Cheng Hock said the differences between Nathan and Loh on Oct 12, 2021 "are actually very narrow", but he will "deal with this at the appropriate time".

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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com