SINGAPORE: The two town councils that sued three Workers’ Party (WP) leaders and town councillors for allegedly misusing public funds have been ordered to pay costs and disbursements of about S$388,800 (US$292,000) in total for the appeals in the case.
This is the latest development in the long-running civil suits by Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) and Sengkang Town Council (SKTC) against eight defendants: WP leaders Ms Sylvia Lim, Mr Low Thia Khiang and Mr Pritam Singh, as well as their former managing agent FMSS and four other former town councillors or employees.
Of the S$388,800, AHTC has to pay S$176,241.11 in costs and disbursements to the town councillors, employees and FMSS for two appeals.
SKTC has to pay a total of S$212,543.52 in costs and disbursements to the town councillors, employees and FMSS for three appeals.
In a 38-page judgment released on Wednesday (Nov 29), the Court of Appeal outlined why the two councils had to pay costs.
Costs are usually awarded to the party that wins, and in this case, the town councillors and employees had succeeded substantially in their appeals, overturning several of the trial judge’s findings, the Apex court said.
Between AHTC and SKTC, SKTC was more successful in the appeals, added the five-judge panel comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Judith Prakash, Justice Tay Yong Kwang, Judge of the Appellate Division Woo Bih Li and Senior Judge Andrew Phang.
In their judgment, the judges said that a successful party in litigation is entitled to recover costs of the litigation from the unsuccessful party.
SKTC had accepted that the town councillors, employees and FMSS succeeded on more key issues. However, AHTC had argued that costs should go to AHTC, as the defendants had not succeeded substantially in their appeals.
The court rejected AHTC’s argument that it should be seen as the successful party in the appeals and therefore entitled to costs.
The court said most of the issues in the appeals were not found in AHTC’s favour.
Even though AHTC did “enjoy some success” against the town councillors and employees, with liability for some serious breaches established, it is clear that the defendants were successful in overturning the outcome given by the trial court, the Apex Court said.
The cost orders come some four months after the Court of Appeal gave its ruling on the parties’ liability over the handling of town council funds.
Costs for the actual trial itself have not been settled and will be decided only after damages have been assessed.