Parti Liyani's acquittal: Case being reviewed, authorities will be accountable, says K Shanmugam 

Kudos to lawyer Anil .... look forward for more justice to be expose ....

If Justice Chan and lawyer Anil did not pursue justice, this case would have been swept under the carpet. One has to wonder, how many cases like this maid Parti have gone undetected under the radar. It's a very real and reasonable question.

In Singapore, if someone is so rich and powerful, could he get away with lying to the police and to the court and framing an innocent person to jail? Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong and his son Karl asked their maid to also clean Karl’s house and office, even though this is illegal. Some more, they only paid her $20 for these 100 hours of extra work. And the payment was not regular. When she feedbacked that this workload was too much for her and she refused to clean a toilet at the son’s house, they fired her abruptly and gave her only 2 hours to pack her things and leave the house for Indonesia immediately, despite her having worked for them for 9 years. Unhappy that she was unfairly treated, she threatened to expose their illegal acts to MOM. To punish her and to frustrate her reporting to MOM, they took a pre-emptive move by making a police report first, accusing her of stealing from them. Given that the accuser is a rich and powerful family in Singapore (Liew’s yearly bonus from CapitaLand alone amounts to $21 million. The Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo's husband works for Liew as his CEO.), while the accused is only a low-income maid, powerless and vulnerable, the police arrested the maid and subjected her to long hours of questioning using dubious evidence and without a translator (quoted from Kokila Annamalai). The police also failed to conduct an independent evaluation of the cost of items allegedly stolen; they instead just took Liew’s word for it (Kokila). Also, the photographs of the allegedly stolen items were only given to the maid’s pro-bono lawyer on the first day of trial. For the women’s clothing they accused her of stealing, Karl said those were his because he liked to cross-dress actually. Noticing that the clothing’s size was too small for Karl, District Judge Olivia Low only removed the clothing from the list of charges against the maid, instead of questioning Karl’s credibility. When an independent witness Teo, a knife manufacturer, testified that a knife (allegedly stolen) could only have been made in 2006, thereby contradicting Karl’s statement, Judge Low, instead of questioning Karl’s credibility, chose to just ignore Teo’s testimony. Judge Low also ignored Karl’s being found earlier guilty of deceit in a previous case in 2017; she instead found the maid guilty and sentenced her to 26 month’s jail; Judge Low added: “She is a maid, you can't believe maids.” Judge Low’s inappropriate behaviour only came to light in the appeal presided by High Court’s Justice Chan. Justice Chan said: “Judge Low completely erred in accepting certain evidence put forth. She just carved out what was convenient to her. I am troubled that Judge Low did not appear to have considered the various aspects of Karl’s evidence (the questioning of Karl’s credibility).” Even though the maid is acquitted today, the whole process took 4 years, and she couldn’t work or leave Singapore all this while. Other vulnerable victims may have chosen to resign to the fate of jail, especially since it is shorter (2 years vs 4 years) and they need work as soon as possible and there is no guarantee that justice would prevail even if they appeal, given how rich and powerful the accuser is. AGC said further action may be warranted against Liew, but if someone is so rich and powerful, could he get away with lying to the police and to the court and framing an innocent person to jail? Also, the public's expectation of a judge and the police is they uphold justice, instead of choosing what's convenient for them just to make their job easier. We do not want the "yes man" syndrome to spread into the judiciary and produce "yes judges" too.

I really respect the defense lawyer, going up against such a powerful opponent. Not forgetting the Justice Chan too.

Prosecutor, police in charge of the investigation, and the district judge need to be held accountable. Liew family should be sued for wrongful accusation

If there's real Justice, Liew should be jailed and fine...

This is a true lawyer hero!!!!!!!

It is scary how she could be 'convicted' in the first place. Indeed, something is wrong with our legal system.

Good to see justice prevails.

I'm indonesian, and l'm so proud how the real justice working there.

Thank you Mr Anil!

I believe Singaporeans and the public are interested to see how our laws will/ or will not punish Judge Low, the police involved in the investigation and of course Liew Family who framed a vulnerable domestic helper. If these people go free, then Singapore is doom!! This is a coffee shop topic now so I like to know how our legal system works.

District judge Olivia Low should be investigated, at the very least for incompetence!

The irony is the Liew family has all the $$ in the world and can splurge on high fashion merchandise but would not cough up the $ to hire more maids to clean their houses! 🤣 If they had done that, they wouldn’t have an overworked and unhappy maid and all this saga would not even exist! 😅

They have to pay her damages for what she went through!

Business person? Action MUST be taken against THIS "business" person !!!

What went wrong? The maid did nothing wrong and was subjected to such baseless accusation. Justice is not yet served until the shameless perpetrators who wrongfully made the police reports against an innocent person are apprehended! Then! Justice will be served. And don't forget, do something about the first judge who sentenced this innocent domestic worker to jail.

what a shame to the so- called respectable man & family! they should be punished for ruining someone's life.

Kudos to the 3 parties namely, the domestic helper Parti Liyani, the defendant's lawyer Anil Balchandani and the high court judge Chan Seng Onn. They have the character that God has been mentioned and highlighted many times in his words to his people such as justice, righteousness and love. I hope that Singaporeans will learn something positively from this court case and that God will continue to bless Singapore. Uncle Raymond

Rich, famous and cheap ! Sia sway lah!

Shanmugam clearly avoided mentioning the name of the wicked perpetrator... Instead he address him as 'business person '...

Respect to you Mr K Shanmugam way to go. The rule of law should be applied on members of the Liew family

See how the minister suddenly lost of words? Because a maid was wrongfully convicted and only after appeal, justice was delivered. Also he know that prosecutor had so called prepared a strong case before it even went to courts. The truth is he know the whole system was biased toward the maid because CAG Chairman is supposedly of a higher society standing thus his words automatically carried certain influences.

Gone wrong and that lawyer for the maid must be praised the follow up the work they put in and found something wrong was awesome.i give that lawyer a 100/100 to be fair.

So question is, why didnt the plaintiff sit in 2 years jail? That sound more justice.

Finally, justice!

Credits should be given to the Judge, lawyers (especially Mr Anil) and the NGO groups involved in the case. An innocent live would have been ruined. I cannot image how a decent person could sleep well knowing that he has put an innocent person in jail if not for a very insightful judge!!! What LML has done is disgusting. Yet there are people who speaks of his good work; I wonder where is their moral compass - come on, LML is paid handsomely for his "contributions". I am confident to say that most of us ordinary folks would not profit by putting someone in big trouble much less in jail!!! I hope the relevant authorities would into LML's false report. They cannot get off scot free and I am sure many of us are watching....

ACG we are waiting!

This is clearly telling the people there is flaws in the court justicie practice in this country. Investigation need to be thoroigh n just without being favouritism.

That how rich people bully the poor and also the same as how the laws bully poor people. If dont have money. You lose in everything. Employer bully you. Laws bully you, family, friend etc... even not your fault also can become your fault.

If a system depends on 'who', then it is not a system. It shouldnt matter 'who' is the judge.

Very good to see the law in partial... agree.. it does not always happen this way!

We're shall be arresting Liew, for good.

After being acquitted, now the real trial will begin. Filing a false police report is this a criminal act?

Such a wicked scheme against Liyani

This case baffles the cockles of our hearts.

So does the guy then go to jail for their actions

CAG boss resign resign resign

And now heads will roll.... Hahahahahaha... We are waiting for this justice you are talking about sir. I hope this is not just another lip service. Give the Liews the 16 months jail that was wrongly given to Ms Liyani and additional 30 years each for making a fool of themselves and the justice system. Also a hefty fine to get back all the taxpayers money wasted in this case and extra more to compensate the helper for all she's been through. Now that is a fair justice.

Our law system need to look what went wrong... Police, proceutor and AG.

Chairman so rich can't even pay some money to maid for cleaning his son office. LIEW you bloody shame n embarrasse!! If I am the maid I will dentifely ask for compensation.

they should check back all the past cases handled by the same disgraced police team & the stupid judge. definitely there are more wrongful cases.

Too many rich people in this country have no sense of obligation and behave in a most unkind manner, bullying those beneath them

Part must be compensated appropriately

Mr Liew and the District Judge involved deserve to have their positions stripped and experience the life of a pauper . Their words and deeds have proven that they've exchanged humanity and integrity for wealth and power (or the abuse of it!). Mr Liew is such a cheapskate with absolute greed - having enough wealth to feed the whole country and yet not even willing to pay the already lowly wage of the maid. Like father like son, Karl Liew can also easily engage cleaners but chose to exploit the maid. Beware ladies out there, Karl Liew has already claimed that he does cross-dressing. Imagine going to his home one day to discover him dressed in your outfit and make-up! Don't be deceived by his wealth and cheap talk! The police and justice departments also need a big clean-up! Don't worry Parti, those evil people who mistreated you have a place in hell waiting for them!

Good job. Shalom.. Love the people Should.

I am happy to see the rich Lose. But i am not happy to see theft get away. SG Law. Hmmmm....

How..... Police n many people involved. Father n son super rich and super cheap

The family should be investigated for making a false police report or making a report without basis. and the punishment should be meted out. That way it will earn the public trust

One cannot think u r prominant person and can do what you want.

Build trust? Or rebuild trust?

The indonesian maid already free. The high Court judge found the airport CEO to be lying. And now revealed the judge that found her guilty at first was afraid to admit evidence.

proud that our Singapore system is so competent! No criminals can escape our justice system! No matter the social class or race, I feel safe that our system protects minorities.

Mr. Lieuw must be in jail or pay for almost 2 years make her not productive.

Keep your statements and keep your commitment.

Minister Shanmugam is spot on. He is the best in the world if not the universe.

👏👏👏👏👏

The lower court judge should also be investigated for dereliction of duty as a judge, as custodian of justice for the public. It seems she has made up her mind from the start of the case and prevented the defence from asking certain questions or following a certain line of questioning. Not sure if she has any links or relationship with the family directly or indirectly

No witch hunt ... So open public hearing ??? Mr. Shan, you dare ???

This case deserved deeper scrutiny!!!

Seeing genuine action taken is believing, until then..............

Authorities will be accountable? Ok. What about the family who framed her? Isn't that a crime? Are they going to walk away from this?

Why did the Minister speak and gaps???? Something not to offend over the other side of the curtains? Giving obliging "special comments"?

Tanparan buat semua majikan yg keterlaluan..mantap doaku buatmu ka k yani..kamu wanita hebat dan luar biasa

Party liani is very kind person In Village she has primary health care for poor people Some people are poor financially but So rich by heart

“Some people are so poor all they have is money, some have no money but so rich by heart” I guess this is just the most beautiful plot God had plan to show the world the truth about this family, maybe even God has had enough with their greed and ungratefull heart. And did you know? She use the saving from 9 years of working to buy a land to provide free healthcare for the poor in her village. Something liew or his son will never do with his millions of savings.

"Beyond a reasonable doubt" is the legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction. The preponderance of evidence and the balance of probabilities were the district judge's chosen standard, thereby falling short. She should have known better. Judges are not infallible. Sometimes convictions are overturned on appeal. In this particular situation however, there appears to have been a miscarriage of justice. Good that the accused was vindicated.

Setting up a helper, shamful.

Liew CHEAPO!!!

How the case now

Like father like son. Both the Filthy rich father and the deceitful son, too stingy to pay the correct wages and exploited the maid. To prevent the maid from revealing their despicable exploitation, they resorted to dirty tricks. I wondered whether this Liew character resorted to any filthy tricks and traps to become the CEO. INVESTORS in Capital Land should investigate why the excessive remuneration were paid to this sleezy Liew.

It’s scary to know a “a rich & influential family” restored to such lowly tactics to mute a foreign worker denial of her rights! Moreover, key office holder of a Snr mgmt of Changi airport grp. Which represent SG! He didn’t just bring down himself, but perhaps a Nation, a entity … this damage is seriously a morally inclusive…

💪

Trust in the system?🙂

..... 😲.... REAL STORY OF THE SUPER RICH & THE SLAVE... 😭😭

karl kiew admit in court, he do lady dressing! 🤮🤮🤮😱😱😱

I'll bet you they will pay her money to go away.

We will get to the bottom of it regardless of the person's status or impressive work contributions to the state. All of us have our lapsed moments. At least justice was done despite the odds against the accused. Now the post-mortem.

well...................

Is the Liew owner of Surbana which is the Consultant very commonly found for Home Improvement Program which renovates old HDB toilets islandwide? Should there be many more such Consultant firms for HDB ? Who are those frequently employed to work in Surbana for HIP projects? Are they commonly ex HDB staff?

Why motivated to Public Prosecutors Tan Yanying and Tan Wee Hao to practice "sleight of hand” techniques against an innocent Indonesian lady?

To restore goodwill between Indonesia and Singapore, errant Public Prosecutors Tan Yanying and Tan Wee Hao should be tried in Indonesia

That lire should fined and jailed for what he did.

even she had been served mon liew's family for 9 years, then she was in jail for 1,5years for this case,..this's still not enough for Justice

It is unnecessary for CNA to go into great details about the alleged crime when in fact she has been acquitted by the High court.

Confirm you win. Lawyer also famous. Hurray..

Only the maid knows in her heart if she did steal or not. In the court a guilty person can be find not guilty and vice versa basing on circumstances evidence.

Finally will be settled out of Court. The maid will be a super rich lady when she return home.

So Singapore is not perfect!!! This will

We can see top people are the Hypocrite....God will Punish them

Let me share how tough it is to report to MOM and SFA. I have been reporting a maid working at her employers shop to MOM for several years supported by photos but not videos as the site is not conducive for video upload. Despite physical evidences at risk of own self, MOM replied saying their officer went several times and saw no maid. Over many years this continued as MOM has 2 departments. One for illegal worker another for domestic maid working at businesses. How do we know it’s a maid when employer brings her to workplace? I originally reported as illegal worker. Till the employer made a police report and I was called up for video taping of their maid. I implored to police to report the matter to MOM but no joy. MOM illegal worker Dept was informed it’s a maid and not illegal worker and I had the formidable task of registering a new case with Maid Dept at MOM having lost several years in the other Dept. Today’s MOM responses are they have not seen The Maid and need to see The Maid with their officers physical eyes. Second issue is some police told me to protect myself with video due to harassment by that shopkeeper. Whilst community police are saying regardless of what happens I cannot use a video despite explaining harassments were made on me and I have videos to prove. So end of day many told me best policy turn deaf ears and blind eyes cuz it’s not that we do not want to help but end up we get entangled in risks on our own lives whilst authorities reject our photo evidences. So of course maids made to work on multiple jobs with our type of system forget it. Lesson learnt

😳 What a mess ! Both are Guilty ! The Liew family are guilty for making the maid work in 2 separate households for a short period of time. Perhaps using their strong network to make sure that maid does not tell on them or get away from her crime ! However, it is obvious that the maid has been stealing from the Liew family during her employment. She help herself with designer items with stained marks or minor tear, exchange it with other maids working in rich families to avoid being caught. As designer items are missing, Liew family may search her room since items in her possession are already swap with other maids, she think she can get away. It is also possible she get someone to sell stolen designer items in preloved shops in exchange for cash to avoid detection. Maid needs to answer where the valuable watches, handbags are from. Investigators must place questionable items e.g. ⌚ watches, dress, designer handbags on mannequin separately, take pictures of valuables, publish it online for real owners to identify them to find out the TRUTH ! Is there a secret lover who constantly ask for money...what are the pawn items ? Who stands to benefit from Liew's resignations, it is unusual practice for lawyer to spend so much time to meet maid weekly on a pro bono basis. Does he not have more important cases that require his attention. This is after all a simple case if she is indeed innocent !

Possession of victims property (multiple items) is not theft????

Can somebody inform me how to report to MOM..fyi i am foreigner who married singaporean and have dependent card to work here...because of my pregnancy the place i work for kick me out with some untrue story...thanks for ur information

Both father n son cannot be charged because of face , no face later , no face , so give face n pay damages , all settled , face = money = king , Cash is King and Dignity swept into the Drain. CashKing is untouchable.

Is the lady beside him Foo Mee Ha?

Crapped

Another foreigner focus case !!!

INDONESIA MERDEKA

Was JT hubby used to work for Surbana? Why did he leave if indeed he left. Had to say it this way else maybe someone sue me