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SINGAPORE – Liew Mun Leong’s former maid is seeking a compensation order against the Attorney General’s Office (AGC), and the High Court suggested on Tuesday (October 27) that the parties resort to mediation.
Parti Liyani’s requests against the AGC were heard by Judge Chan Seng Onn in the High Court, where his lawyer Anil Balchandani stated that Parti, a 46-year-old Indonesian, had incurred a loss of around $ 71,000 in the four years. who has remained in Singapore for his court case.
Balchandani also informed the court that the maid had decided to withdraw the request for a compensation order against Liew and her family, after learning that Liew had had to resign from her positions at Changi Airport Group and Surbana Jurong.
“A lot has happened since the publication of the sentence on September 4, mainly focused on this issue (Mr. Liew) had to resign from various positions … regarding my client’s instructions not for – I would not say inconvenient for him – but not to add to his problems, “said Balchandani.
Although Balchandani and his client had prepared some documents for the compensation order against the Liews, they have not been sent, he told the court.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the court may order the prosecution or original complainant to pay compensation of up to $ 10,000 to the defendant who is acquitted, if it is shown to the court’s satisfaction that the prosecution was frivolous or vexatious.
Balchandani addressed this by breaking down the costs incurred by Parti, including her stay at the nonprofit Organization Humanitarian for the Economics of Migration (HOME), and her loss of salary as a domestic worker who earns about $ 750 a month. He noted that a crowdfunding effort for Parti had raised about $ 26,000.
Judge Chan noted that if the parties went through more hearings in the case to discuss the legalities of the matter, the cost incurred during several days of proceedings would far exceed $ 10,000. The judge then suggested that a third party, such as former judges or other former legal officers, mediate the discussions between Parti and the AGC.
While Balchandani said he was not opposed to mediation, Deputy Prosecutor Mohamed Faizal said the prosecution would have to think about it.
The prosecution will decide on its course of action on Friday. If the mediation is successful, Parti may request to withdraw your current request.
If negotiations fail, the parties will return to court to initiate proceedings, which involve determining whether the accusation had been frivolous or vexatious.
On this point, Balchandani pointed out that the cases before the court were not intended to “load more”, but should be “brief, fast and precise”, since the parties were aware of what had happened during the trial and the appeal.
“So this is where we are today, there has been, in our opinion, a certain amount of injustice that we want the court to hear and order compensation,” said Balchandani. The process did not have to be long and expensive, Balchandani added, as the compensation Parti is seeking was only a “fraction” or “nominal amount” to show that something went wrong.
“The appellant, now a free person, was aggrieved and AGC might be a little wiser next time, that’s all, this is not intended to prolong (the proceedings).”
Case background
Parti was initially convicted of four counts of theft from the Liew family and sentenced to 26 months in jail in state courts. His conviction was overturned on September 4 following an appeal, led by Balchandani, to the High Court. The judge then determined that there could have been an improper motive on the part of Liew and his son Karl Liew to file a police report against Parti.
She had previously threatened to file a complaint against the Liews for assigning her cleaning duties outside of her scope of work, as they forced her to clean Karl’s home and office.
Parti also has a pending legal case against two prosecutors who handled his trial. Earlier this year, he initiated judicial disciplinary proceedings against Assistant Prosecutors Tan Yanying and Tan Wee Hao, who prosecuted his case in state courts before District Judge Olivia Low.
Last Friday, Chief Justice (CJ) Sundaresh Menon said that he had found a prima facie case for an investigation and that he will appoint a disciplinary tribunal to investigate the allegation of misconduct against the two DPPs.
