'My conscience is clear', Workers' Party chief Low says in response to AHTC lawsuit

SINGAPORE — The Workers’ Party (WP) leaders facing a multimillion-dollar civil suit over alleged improper payments by their town council on Wednesday (July 26) rejected all allegations against them, with WP chief Low Thia Khiang holding up his 26-year political track record for scrutiny. 

“My conscience is clear, we acted in good faith and in the best interest of the residents. The residents can see for themselves ... I’ve been in politics for more than 20 years. I think people know me,” said Mr Low, who is being sued along with seven other defendants, including WP chairman Sylvia Lim and assistant secretary-general Pritam Singh.

Mr Low, Ms Lim and Mr Singh are Members of Parliament for Aljunied GRC, and also served as town councillors during the period cited in the lawsuit. 

Flanked by Ms Lim and Mr Singh at his Meet-the-People session (MPS), Mr Low — who was first elected to Parliament in 1991 — told reporters that there was “no dishonest intention”. 

Adding that they have been advised not to go into detail at this point, Ms Lim said they will present their defence “in a proper forum”. 

Describing town council management as a “technical matter”, Ms Lim said: “We hope that, with this court case, there will be a greater understanding, especially from the public’s point of view (on) what the considerations were when we made the decisions and why we still stand firm today that what we did was in the best interest of the council based on the information that we had at that point in time.”

Echoing this, Mr Singh said he saw the court case “as an opportunity to put ... our side of the story out there”. 

“We hope that residents of Aljunied will also have the opportunity to look at our defence quite closely because we will be making it known to the public,” said Mr Singh. 

“It is my firm conviction that we acted in good faith and we are not in politics for the purposes of enriching ourselves and things of that nature. We hope to serve the community to the best of our abilities.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the three WP leaders released a public statement saying they categorically rejected allegations that they had acted in breach of their fiduciary duties. On being asked to give an account of profits made from the appointment of FMSS or pay damages not less than S$1.25 million, Mr Low and Ms Lim said in the statement that they have “not benefited a single cent”.

Adding that they will contest the lawsuit brought against them by the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), they said they have engaged law firm Tan Rajah and Cheah to defend them. Ms Lim said at the MPS that they will be represented by Senior Counsel Chelva Rajah. 

AHTC is suing the town councillors for S$33.7 million, but Ms Lim said they “reject the allegations that these payments were unlawful and wrong”. She reiterated: “Of course lawsuits are never pleasant, but we welcome this opportunity to actually go into detail to explain to the court and to the public why we made certain decisions at that point in time.” 

On their next steps, Ms Lim said there were “several documents that need to be filed in the next couple of weeks” in accordance with court procedures. 

“We’ll be working with our lawyers, and in due course if we can share more information, we certainly will,” she said.