SINGAPORE: The Workers' Party (WP) issued a statement on Friday (Oct 26) to clarify that it was not raising funds for three of its Members of Parliament involved in two civil suits.

MPs Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim and Low Thia Khiang are embroiled in civil suits over their alleged mismanagement of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), and on Wednesday made an appeal online for funds to pay for their legal fees and "to deal with the prospect of being made a bankrupt".



According to the trio's In Good Faith blog, there were 2,832 contributions totalling S$477,653 as of 10pm on Thursday.

In a Facebook post, WP said the appeal for funds was a private undertaking by the three individuals.

"We understand the three MPs are undertaking a private fundraising effort. The Workers’ Party is not involved in that effort," it said.

"We urge members of the public to be extremely wary of donating money to any persons claiming to represent the Workers’ Party."



The WP also urged the public not to use its logo or make any claims to represent the party to promote the private fundraising.





The three WP MPs had on Wednesday said that mounting legal costs had "depleted" their personal resources.

“We have not used any funds from the Workers’ Party. The total we have paid to our own lawyers to date is close to S$600,000, covering the work done before the trial,” they wrote on the website.



Mr Low, Ms Lim and Mr Singh are being sued by AHTC and Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council for alleged breaches of fiduciary duties relating to the appointment of the managing agent for AHTC, FM Solutions and Services (FMSS). They have also been charged with making “improper” payments of more than S$33 million, mostly to FMSS.

The defendants have denied these allegations. All three have given their testimony in an ongoing trial that started on Oct 5.



When contacted by Channel NewsAsia, Mr Singh said that there would be an update on the amount raised on the In Good Faith website on Friday night.