Finding that the family of Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong had "improper motives" for lodging a police report against their domestic helper, Singapore's High Court acquitted Parti Liyani of stealing from her former employers.

All four theft-related charges were also dropped, according to a press release issued by the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) on Sunday, Sep. 6.

Liew family had "improper motive" in launching allegations against Parti

Justice Chan Seng Onn explained why he had allowed Parti’s appeal against all four charges against her: 

"I first observe that in the present case, which involved a voluminous number of items, the proper handling of the evidence by the police and recording of the allegedly stolen items is crucial in order to preserve the chain of custody of the items.

Coupled with the existence of an improper motive by members of the Liew family for mounting the allegations against Parti, I find that the convictions against Parti are unsafe and accordingly acquit her of all the charges.”

Reason to believe Liew family terminated Parti's employment suddenly

The AGC continued to talk about how Chan had arrived at his decision:

"... one of Chan J’s findings was that there was reason to believe that the Liew family took the pre-emptive step to terminate the Appellant’s employment suddenly and without giving her sufficient time to pack, in the hope that she would not use the time to make a complaint to the Ministry of Manpower (“MOM”) about her illegal deployment to work for Karl Liew.

Chan also found that after Parti had threatened to go to MOM about her sudden termination, Liew Mun Leong and Karl Liew lodged the police report to prevent her return to Singapore to lodge a complaint with the MOM."

In light of Chan's comments, the AGC said they will study the judgment to assess what further action, if any, ought to be taken in this case.

They added that Chan's findings have raised questions which warrant further investigations.

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