TODAY: Probe unlikely to affect NCMP seat: Low

WP chief confident police will be fair; Gomez is called in for questioning a third time

LIN YANQIN
yanqinl@newstoday.com.sg


TIME TO GO: Workers' Party secretary-general Low Thia Khiang (right) gestures to his colleagues to leave after the counting of the overseas votes were finished.

ALTHOUGH the James Gomez controversy is far from settled, Workers' Party chief Low Thia Khiang said it's unlikely that ongoing police investigations will affect chairman Sylvia Lim's nomination to become a Non-Constituency MP (NCMP).

Speaking to reporters yesterday after observing the counting of overseas votes, Mr Low said he is confident that the police will be fair in dealing with this matter.

When asked what happened during his three-hour interview with the police at his Hougang Town Council office on Monday, he said: "They basically wanted to know of some of the statements I made in public, on what basis I made those statements, how I justify my assessment of Mr James Gomez during the election and things like that," he said. "I suppose they want to find out whether I had, in any way, covered up for James Gomez."

The police had spoken to him - along with Ms Lim and other party colleagues - as part of the ongoing investigations on Mr Gomez over allegations of criminal intimidation and providing false information to the Elections Department.

At WP's final rally last Friday, Mr Low had clarified that he had instructed all non-Chinese candidates, including Mr Gomez, to obtain a minority certification form.

The form was the subject of a controversy during the nine-day election campaign, when Mr Gomez first accused the Elections Department of misplacing it, before apologising when evidence was produced to show otherwise.

The Elections Department lodged a complaint against him on polling day on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Mr Gomez was called for the third time to the Police Cantonment Complex for more questioning yesterday evening at about 7pm. The session lasted around three hours.

"By now I have answered about 100 questions, in all," said Mr Gomez.

He said that from the line of questioning, it appeared that the police were also investigating him for giving false information and using threatening words and behaviour, apart from the accusation of criminal intimidation mentioned earlier.

He said he had heard that people were concerned about his case and added that he would continue to cooperate with the authorities. The police had still not given him a time-frame on how long the investigations would last, he said.

Apart from WP members, the People's Action Party's MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC Mr Inderjit Singh and several officials from the Elections Department have also been interviewed in relation to the investigations.

Mr Singh had issued a public statement during the height of the controversy last week on a conversation he had with Mr Gomez on Nomination Day.

According to Mr Singh, Mr Gomez had told him then that the whole episode was a "wayang" (show).

Mr Gomez is part of the WP team led by Ms Lim that challenged the PAP in Aljunied GRC. The contest ended with the PAP team, fronted by Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo, winning 56.1 per cent of the vote.

– WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DERRICK A PAULO