Sylvia Lim Evasions



Mr Singh told her she was a lawyer and she knows that if she kept evading, the court will be told that she was being an evasive witness

Example 1:
Q:         Sorry.  Weren't you treated as an elected member of the town council with effect from the day after the elections?
A:         The act says something different.  The act says that our tenure begins when the town is gazetted.  Section 13.
…
Q:         … My colleague has just handed you section 13, and I'm now going to read 13(1):
"Every elected member of a town council shall assume his office upon his election as a member of Parliament and shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of Parliament for the constituency comprised within the town for which the town council is established."
Could you tell us why, then, your reading of this is different from what is stated in the letter, Ms Lim?
Do you agree, Ms Lim, that your evidence about section 13 is incorrect?
Ms Lim, I have to go on the record to say that you're not answering the question and time is passing.  We're waiting for an answer, Ms Lim.
Ms Lim, I'm going to ask you now for the third time.  Do you agree that what you've told the court about section 13 is incorrect?
Ms Lim, you're refusing to answer the question.
…
Ms Lim, for the fifth time.  Ms Lim, on Mr Rajah's watch, we're now past two minutes.
A:         Well, Mr Singh, looking at this section which was handed up to me, it does say that the elected member of the town council assumes his office upon his election as an MP.  So I must have been reading something else.  I'll try to clarify later on in my evidence if I have the chance.

Example 2:
Q:         Listen carefully to my question.  Is it your evidence that at that time before 27 May, you thought that you were not a town councillor?
Ms Lim, I'm waiting for an answer.
Please. It's been many minutes since my question.
Ms Lim, would you put aside the documents, because my question doesn't require you to look at the documents.  It's about what your state of mind was.
Is it your evidence that in May 2011, you thought that you were not a town councillor?
Your Honour, I'm so sorry, but I do have to, for the record, say that she's not answering questions.
A:         I do believe that I read this letter, and thinking back, I would have thought that I was a councillor.

Example 3:
Q:         In these circumstances, you would agree with me -- and listen very carefully to my question -- that the decision to upscale the software was not based on anything that AIMS or NCS had said to you?
A:         I agree that they had not said anything to us at that time.
Q:         Thank you.  More than that, because you've not answered my question, the decision to upscale the software was not based on anything that they had said to you; correct?
A:         They didn't say anything to us at that time.
Q:         For the third time:  The decision to upscale the software was not based on anything that they had said to you; correct?
A:         It was not based on what they -- or anything that they had said to us, but it was based on past experience and the expectation that we would not be allowed to use the system in place in Aljunied.
Q:         Thank you. …

Example 4:
Q:         Well, it just arises from these documents. Therefore, far from anything which shows that the elected MPs were anxious about AIM terminating the contract or NCS doing something, the initiative to upscale was taken by you and your fellow elected MPs. Jeffrey Chua assisted in that process because you asked him to, and the HDB asked after that process; in other words, "Do you have your vendors?", and, "These are the people you should get in touch with"; isn't that right?
A:         Mr Singh, I would just -
Q:         "Yes" or "no", please.  You can say -
A:         It was a very long -
Q:         Then you should -
A:         Let me read.
Q:         Listen to my question, and don't distract yourself by flipping through the documents.
Read it, please.
Please don't read the documents, Ms Lim.
Just look at the screen and answer the question.
A:         I would say that HDB, Mr Chong, wrote this email and copied it to all the MPs because he knew of our concern.

Example 5:
Q:         Thank you.  In fact, it was not even discussed or this concern was not even expressed to Mr Jeffrey Chua at the 30 May meeting; correct?
A:         I don't have any record of it being discussed -
Q:         Thank you very much.
A:         -- on 30 May.
Q:         Right.  So let's take stock of what happened on 30 May.
COURT: Sorry.  The question was, "It was not even discussed or this concern was not even expressed to Mr Chua at the 30 May meeting?"
The response is, "I don't have any record of it being discussed."  It's not really answer the question.
MR SINGH:        Thank you, your Honour, for picking that up.
Do you agree?
COURT: So you don't recall?
A:         I agree, yeah, because I didn't --  I agree that it was likely not discussed at the 30 May meeting.
COURT: So it was not discussed?
A:         Yes.
COURT: Thank you.

Example 6:
Q.         My question, Ms Lim, is: the suggestion at paragraph 114 that AHTC started urgent preparations for the withdrawal of the TCMS by upscaling the Hougang software after the tip-off is untrue, correct?
A:         We made certain significant purchases in the second part of June.  That's what I remember.
Q:         I didn't ask you that question. Answer my question. And I have to tell you, Ms Lim, you know this, as a lawyer, that the more you avoid a question, the greater the opportunity you give us to submit to His Honour that you are an evasive witness.
So I'm asking you now again.  The suggestion in paragraph 114 that the preparations for the upscaling commenced after Mr Jeffrey Chua gave Ms How the tip-off is untrue.  Do you agree?
A:         I can accept that -
Q:         Thank you.

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