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Workers’ Party MPs raise close to S$500,000 a day after public appeal

SINGAPORE — Workers’ Party (WP) Members of Parliament (MPs) Sylvia Lim, Low Thia Khiang and Pritam Singh have raised close to half a million dollars from around 2,800 donations just a day after the trio appealed to the public for money to help pay their bills for a civil lawsuit.

Workers’ Party MPs raise close to S$500,000 a day after public appeal
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SINGAPORE — Workers’ Party (WP) Members of Parliament (MPs) Sylvia Lim, Low Thia Khiang and Pritam Singh have raised close to half a million dollars from around 2,800 donations just a day after the trio appealed to the public for money to help pay their bills for a civil lawsuit.

An update on their blog, In Good Faith, showed that they have received S$477,653 as of Thursday (Oct 25) at 10pm. This is a seven-fold jump from the S$65,196 that was collected just 24 hours earlier.

On Wednesday, the three MPs wrote on the blog that they had paid close to S$600,000 to their lawyers from Tan, Rajah & Cheah using their personal savings and contributions from friends.

Stressing that they “have not used any funds from the Workers’ Party”, they appealed for support from the public because the costs incurred for the lawyers' work done before the ongoing trial “have depleted our personal resources”.

The three opposition-party MPs are embroiled in civil lawsuits brought against them by the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council and an independent panel acting on behalf of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC). They are alleged to have wrongfully paid S$33.7 million between 2011 and 2015 to managing agent FM Solutions and Services, and other third-party contractors.

The lawsuit accuses the trio and two other town councillors of failing in their duties in managing AHTC and its finances, and are liable to repay the alleged improper payments to the two town councils.

The trial in High Court is in its 15th day (as of Oct 25), and is scheduled to run till Nov 2.

As the total sum claimed against them is “potentially more than S$30 million”, the trio had appealed for “financial resources” to tackle the legal costs as they “deal with the prospect of being made a bankrupt”.

The three MPs for the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) would lose their parliamentary seats if they are made bankrupts.

In their appeal on Wednesday night, they asked for contributions to be made via cheque, Internet fund transfer, or PayNow.

Related topics

Workers' Party AHTC fund Sylvia Lim Low Thia Khiang Pritam Singh

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