Yudhishthra Nathan once again asked what Pritam Singh meant by the ‘won’t judge’ line to Raeesah on day 8 of the trial – Mothership.SG

On October 23, Yudhishthra Nathan, a former member of the Workers’ Party (WP), took the witness stand one last time for the trial of WP general secretary Pritam Singh.

During this latest round of questioning by Andre Jumabhoy, Singh’s defense lawyer, Nathan was questioned in more detail about the meeting he had with former WP member Loh Pei Ying and Singh on October 12, 2021, and on his understanding of Singh saying he wouldn’t “judge” Raeesah.

What happened at the October 12, 2021 meeting?

Jumabhoy noted that one of the topics discussed at the meeting was the communication strategy regarding the fake Raeesah anecdote in parliament.

Nathan said he asked Singh why the party was now asking Raeesah to reveal her lie, although he said he did not remember the exact words he used.

When Jumabhoy asked him why he didn’t remember, Nathan replied that the meeting took place three years ago.

Jumabhoy also asked Nathan if the meeting was also the first time he had heard about the party’s change in strategy regarding Raeesah from Singh, and the first time he and Loh had been able to question Singh about the change.

Nathan answered both questions in the affirmative and said Singh believed the government may already know the truth.

If the party continued to lie, it would suffer “bad karma”, recalls Nathan Singh.

Jumabhoy pointed out that a change in strategy shared at the October 12, 2021 meeting was not brought to the Committee on Privileges (COP) by either Nathan or fellow former WP executive Loh Pei Ying.

“Did you hide this information?” » » asked Jumabhoy.

“No,” Nathan replied, adding that he didn’t remember it “at that time,” although he spoke separately to police about it.

He said it was not something that had crossed his mind while he was in front of the COP, adding that it would be a “significant challenge” for him to remember everything.

Jumabhoy then highlighted that Nathan had “given the floor” to COP member Minister Edwin Tong.

Jumabhoy referred Nathan to the transcripts of the COP hearings, saying:

“He said to you, ‘Was there anything significant that happened, other than what we talked about, on the 12th (October)?’

And you say, “Something important?” No.'”

“He doesn’t ask you if you went to the bathroom that night. He doesn’t ask you about your life story that night,” Jumabhoy said, suggesting Nathan was “making it up” when he talked about a change of strategy in October. 12, 2021.

Nathan replied: “Absolutely not. »

Jumabhoy then suggested to Nathan that he had spoken to Loh and discussed what they should tell the police, including what details should be included or omitted.

“I don’t remember, it was a long time ago,” Nathan replied.

However, when Jumabhoy suggested Nathan and Loh had discussed including a “little nugget” about Singh mentioning a change in the party’s strategy, Nathan said: “I don’t agree with that.”

What did Pritam mean when he said he “won’t judge” Raeesah?

Nathan also claimed that the October 12, 2021 meeting was where Singh told him about the October 3, 2021 meeting he had with Raeesah.

Nathan also said that Singh said about his line that he wouldn’t judge Raeesah.

However, Nathan said he saw no need to clarify the meaning of that phrase with Singh at that time.

When Jumabhoy asked Nathan if Singh had said in the meeting that Raeesah should take “ownership and responsibility”, he replied “absolutely not” and that Singh had “never used those words”.

Jumabhoy then asked Nathan about a “power imbalance” he had previously mentioned between Raeesah and Singh, given that the two had met when Singh was already the party leader.

Jumabhoy then said that Nathan had met Singh when he was just an MP, and referred Nathan to past occasions when Nathan had spoken with Singh and disagreed with him.

Earlier, on October 18, Nathan was asked to clarify his understanding of Singh’s statement: “He wouldn’t judge her.”

Nathan said: “My understanding was that he was giving her a choice. Whatever the option, if she chose to continue the lie, she would have no problem with it.”

Part of the accusation against Singh is that he “intentionally guided” Raeesah to maintain the lie even though it was brought up in Parliament, and gave her the impression that she could choose to continue with the false narrative, by saying he wouldn’t judge her.

Request for disclosure of Nathan’s messages between October 4 and 12 rejected

The eighth day of the trial also saw Jumabhoy’s application to disclose Nathan’s WhatsApp messages between October 4 and 12, 2021 rejected by Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan.

According to the judge, he had reviewed the redacted and unredacted messages from Loh and Nathan’s WhatsApp messages and found that none of them met the legal threshold for disclosure, also known as Kadar’s duty to disclose .

Under the Kadar duty of disclosure, the prosecution must disclose unused materials in its possession that tend to weaken the prosecution’s case or support the accused’s defense.

This includes unused material which is likely to be inadmissible, but which would offer a real chance of pursuing an investigative line leading to material which may be admissible and therefore considered relevant to the guilt or innocence of the accused. accused.

The court is not concerned with the findings of the COP or the evidence presented to the COP, the judge said.

The COP operated under different conditions and terms of reference, he explained.

Rather, the court’s main concern is whether the prosecution has proven the charges against Singh beyond reasonable doubt.

The court also has no mandate to comment on the COP, the judge noted.

The judge also pointed out that in relation to the messages submitted to the COP, it was clear that this was done after Loh and Nathan’s oral testimony before the committee and that they were not mentioned during their testimony .

He added that even if Nathan’s credibility is an issue, as is naturally the case with all witnesses, the material he has not disclosed is not an issue.

Top photo by Mothership