Ex-Helper Parti Liyani Opens Case For Possible Misconduct By Prosecutors
The ex-helper of former Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong is not stopping at proving her innocence.
Now, she also wants the courts to investigate the prosecutors who called for her conviction, which a judge found to have issues.
Parti Liyani’s lawyer Anil Balchandani went for a pre-trial conference on Wednesday (23 Sep), where he met the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC)’s representatives.
Her complaint — that there was misconduct by the AGC prosecutors in her case.
This comes after Justice Chan Seng Onn noticed issues with the trial that led to Ms Parti’s conviction.
Ex-helper seeks disciplinary action against prosecutors
As mentioned, there were apparently issues in how the system – namely police, the judges, and prosecutors – handled Ms Parti’s case and gave her the conviction.
According to Channel NewsAsia, the prosecutors are:
- Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Wee Hao
- Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Yanying
We’re not sure if there’ll be any action taken against the police or district judge in her case as of now.
Ms Parti is seeking action taken under Section 82A of the Legal Profession Act, which governs legal officers’ misconduct.
If successful, there may be a disciplinary tribunal who’ll investigate the facts of the case, and see if there was any misconduct by the parties.
Justice notes issues with prosecutors in ex-helper case
Mr Liew, and his son, Karl Liew, made a police report against Ms Parti in 2016 for theft.
After firing her in Oct that year, she was given 2 hours to pack up her belongings, which should’ve been sent to her in Indonesia.
However, the family went through the boxes and said they found items which she stole from them.
Prosecutors may have deceived judge & Ms Parti with DVD player
One of these items, a spoilt Pioneer DVD player, was used as evidence by prosecutors during the hearing.
However, they didn’t declare that the DVD player was spoilt, and Justice Chan said they should have done so if they knew.
Image for illustration purposes.
Source
This, he said, resulted in potentially misleading the court judge and Ms Parti, as Ms Parti’s testimony was that Mdm Ng Lai Peng, Mr Liew’s wife, had wanted to throw the DVD player away in 2012.
However, Ms Parti said she’d bring it back to Indonesia to repair.
The prosecutors then attempted to show that the DVD player was working, and when connected to a monitor, there was an image displayed.
But there was no disc inserted in the DVD player.
As such, Justice Chan said there was a potentially misleading element in the way the prosecutors presented the workability of the player, calling it a “sleight-of-hand” technique.
Impartial justice system required
The justice system has to be fair and impartial to all. Otherwise, there won’t be trust in the system and this could be catastrophic for a society.
We hope that any independent tribunal will investigate the case thoroughly.
This case has understandably gained much attention due to its high profile and acquittal. We’re sure the proceedings will be closely followed.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
