M'sian minister Liew Vui Keong denies interfering with S'pore's judicial system for death penalty case

He also said he did not speak to minister Shanmugam.

Sulaiman Daud | May 27, 2019, 03:05 PM

Malaysian Minister Liew Vui Keong has denied claims that he tried to interfere with the legal proceedings of a Singapore court.

Convicted drug offender Pannir Selvam Pranthaman was found guilty of carrying 51.84g of heroin at Woodlands Checkpoint on Sept. 3, 2014.

He was sentenced to death by hanging, but was granted a stay of execution by the Court of Appeal a day before his May 24 scheduled execution.

Appealed on behalf of death row inmate

On May 24, Singapore's Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam said Liew had written a letter to the Singapore government to appeal on Pannir's behalf.

Shanmugam said that while Singapore respects the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government's anti-death penalty stance, he expected them to respect Singapore's own stance.

Added Shanmugam, according to Today:

"When there are no legal reasons for us to intervene and the courts have imposed a sentence, we will not intervene, as a government."

Representation made on "valid legal grounds"

However, Liew denied this.

On May 26, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said he made a representation to the Singapore government on "valid legal grounds", according to Bernama.

Lui, who is in charge of law and parliamentary affairs, said:

"The allegation that I have interfered with their judicial system is totally unfounded and baseless. It’s purely a figment of an imagination on someone’s part."

He also clarified that he had spoken to Singapore's Senior Minister of State of Law instead of Shanmugam, who was unavailable at the time.

The Senior Minister of State of Law is Edwin Tong, although he was not named in the Bernama report.

Liew respects the decision of Singapore's Court

Liew said he was issuing a statement to prevent further confusion stemming from "serious allegations" made against him from "certain quarters" across the Causeway, although he did not specify which individual that was.

Liew noted the legal arguments that Pannir was using in his case, and said that while he had not read the legal grounds, it was "obvious" that the Singapore Court made its decision after considering the prevailing circumstances and the rule of law.

Added Liew:

"It is therefore equally untenable to allege that there’s an interference on my part to their judicial process.

I, and so is everyone of us here in Malaysia, respect the decision of the Singapore’s Court."

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Top image from Liew Vui Keong Facebook.