At an appeal court hearing on last week, a High Court Judge was infuriated by the misrepresentations in a PAP MP’s appeal letter. Judge See Kee Oon slammed an unnamed PAP MP’s appeal letter for a woman who is appealing against her one week’s imprisonment for knocking into a motorcyclist during a traffic accident.
According to the unnamed PAP MP’s letter, the woman had “only accidentally brushed” a motorcyclist resulting in the motorcyclist sustaining some injuries.
The High Court Judge was however furious:
“This was not consistent with the statement of facts she had agreed to. The victim, Mr Vikaramen A. Elangovan, suffered multiple fractures requiring a dozen operations in two months, and was hospitalised for 69 days after he was hit by the car she had been driving. It would appear that they sought to unfairly trivialise the accident and diminish the true extent of the victim’s substantial injuries. These statements are regrettably misleading if they correctly reflect what she had conveyed to the MP… This is somewhat troubling.”
State media Straits Times have covered up the identity of the PAP MP, but sought the ruling party PAP for comments on the incident. It is unknown if the woman is related to the ruling party.
PAP leader Minister Chan Chun Sing told state media reporters that the job of a MP is not to verify facts when writing appeal letters:
“MPs are usually “not in a position to verify the facts narrated by the resident.”