Court Clears Pritam Singh In AHTC Case, Sylvia Lim & Low Thia Khiang Still Liable

Court Of Appeal Reviews AHTC Case On 7 July

The Court Of Appeal released its findings regarding the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) payments process case yesterday (7 July).

Recent findings still found Workers’ Party (WP) members Sylvia Lim and Low Thia Khiang liable for negligence.

However, the Court Of Appeal cleared Pritam Singh over the issue at hand on a legal technicality.

The latest judgement is the most recent update to the AHTC case involving the alleged misuse of S$33.7 million of Town Council funds by the WP leaders.

AHTC did not run a clear case against Pritam Singh

Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that the Court Of Appeal pardoned Mr Singh over the lack of a concrete case against him.

The court found that the lawyers representing AHTC had not made any claim against Mr Singh and the two town councillors over the control failures.

Additionally, the AHTC also reportedly failed to cross-examine the town councillors and employees.

Instead, it relied on the cross-examination by counsel for Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon stated in the judgement text that,

In these circumstances, we find that AHTC did not run any case – much less a clear case – against Mr Singh, Mr Chua, and Mr Foo regarding the system.

He also noted that the trio was not aware that they had to defend a case against AHTC that they had breached any duties in relation to the system.

Sylvia Lim & Low Thia Khiang still liable to AHTC for negligence

Meanwhile, the court still holds Ms Lim and Mr Low accountable for their purported oversight.

The Court Of Appeal found the duo liable to AHTC for negligence by allowing control failures to persist in the town council’s payments process.

Apart from Ms Lim and Mr Low, managing agent director Ms How Weng Fan and her late husband Mr Danny Low were also found liable for negligence.

The husband-wife pair reportedly had “conflicted interests” in FMSS — which AHTC had hired as a service provider to help run day-to-day operations in the town.

Following these latest findings, Ms Lim and Mr Low might have to pay damages.

CNA reported that the amount will likely be confirmed in further trial hearings.

Court Of Appeal clears one of three WP members involved in AHTC case

In 2019, the High Court found that Ms Lim and Mr Low breached their fiduciary duties to AHTC, The Straits Times (ST) reports.

Mr Singh, on the other hand, breached his duties of skill and care.

The Court Of Appeal overturned the judgement last year after finding that the three did not owe the above duties to AHTC.

However, they were still negligent in some aspects, including the payments process.

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Featured image adapted from In Good Faith and Aljunied Hougang Town Council.