[ad_1]
SINGAPORE: Parti Liyani, who was acquitted of theft last month, went to the High Court on Tuesday (October 27) to request a compensation order in the case, estimating her losses at around S $ 71,000.
Ms Parti was convicted in March last year in state courts of stealing items worth S $ 34,000 from former Changi Airport Group Chairman Liew Mun Leong and his family while working for them as a domestic servant.
The conviction was overturned by the Superior Court on September 4 and she was acquitted of all robbery charges.
His attorney Anil Balchandani told Judge Chan Seng Onn on Tuesday that while he had originally planned to approach Mr. Liew and his family directly for compensation, his client’s instructions were to “add no more to (Mr. . Liew) “, as he” (had)) to resign “from various positions at Changi Airport Group and Surbana Jurong after she was acquitted.
Therefore, Mr. Balchandani requested a compensation order from the court.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, if a defendant is acquitted of any charge for any crime and if the accusation is shown to be frivolous or vexatious, the court “may order the prosecution or the complainant or the person about whose information was instituted to pay as compensation to the defendants a sum that does not exceed $ 10,000 “.
Explaining how she obtained the figure of S $ 71,000, which exceeds the maximum amount of S $ 10,000 allowed, Balchandani noted Ms Parti’s salary losses of around S $ 41,000 over about four years between October 2016 and October 2020 This figure was derived from her. S $ 750 monthly salary as a domestic worker with 20 years of experience.
The S $ 71,000 figure also included accommodation costs incurred by the Humanitarian Organization for the Economics of Migration (HOME), which provided shelter to Ms Parti after she was fired.
“In our opinion, there has been a certain amount of injustice that we want the court to hear and order compensation, and the prosecution has to show why they started the process,” Balchandani said.
He added that Ms Parti was asking for “a nominal amount to show that something went wrong.”
“The appellant, who is now a free person, was aggrieved, and the AGC could be a little wiser next time. That’s it. This is not intended to prolong a long trial or appeal,” the attorney said.
Judge Chan raised several issues with the S $ 71,000 figure, noting that the maximum amount that can be compensated to Ms Parti is S $ 10,000 and questioning whether accommodation costs can be claimed if HOME voluntarily accommodated Ms. . I left.
He urged both parties to resort to third party mediation instead, with external compensation awarded out of court, as Mr. Balchandani and the Attorney General’s Office (AGC) had tried to negotiate on this matter but could not reach an agreement.
“You know, there are many considerations in this case,” said Judge Chan. “The amount is only S $ 10,000. It is not very big. If we go ahead with this case, we have a fixed hearing for one day, two days, you know that the cost of this case is going to be much more than S $ 10,000. Costs, even court fees, are actually publicly funded … for you, there’s also a cost, you know, to do it pro bono, “he told Balchandani.
He added that if they proceeded with the case, there were several legal issues that needed to be discussed, such as who bears the burden of proof and what is the meaning of frivolous and vexatious.
“It’s basically not that simple,” Judge Chan said. “It certainly will take more than a day. So I don’t think it’s worth it.”
The brief hearing was attended by Deputy Prosecutors Mohamed Faizal Mohamed Abdul Kadir and Sarah Siaw, and lead attorney Faizal said the request was “absolutely incomparable” and would be “quite questionable from a legal and factual point of view.”
The judge sent both parties back to consider third party mediation. If this fails, both Mr. Balchandani and the prosecution will return at a later date to resume arguments on the compensation order.
This comes after the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon granted Ms. Parti license or permission last week to conduct an investigation into her misconduct complaint against two prosecutors at her trial.
READ: Chief Justice grants investigation into Parti Liyani’s misconduct complaint against prosecutors
Ms. Parti alleged that Assistant Prosecutors Tan Yanying and Tan Wee Hao showed a “lack of frankness” in the way they questioned her and presented their position in court.
As a result, she was unfairly interrogated and misled along with the court, she alleged.
The problem was due to a DVD player that was accused of stealing from Mr. Liew’s family, which turned out to be defective but the prosecution had presented it as working well.
READ: Timeline: How former maid Parti Liyani was acquitted of robbing the family of Changi Airport Group chairman
The Chief Justice granted the inquiry after finding evidence that there was a case for it.
A disciplinary court will hear the case and investigate the complaint. If serious enough cause for disciplinary action is found, the Chief Justice could issue sanctions such as censure, cancellation and fines of up to S $ 20,000.
