SINGAPORE — Karl Liew Kai Lung, the son of ex-Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong, was sentenced to two weeks’ jail yesterday for lying to a judge in a case over the family’s maid, Parti Liyani.
Liew lied when he told District Judge Olivia Low during an earlier trial that Ms Parti had stolen his clothes when in fact the clothes were not his.
After passing sentence yesterday, Judge Eugene Teo granted a request by Liew, 45, to have the start of his jail term deferred until May 8.
His defence counsel had stated that Liew had five children and he had the main responsibility for looking after them at home.
Last month, Liew pleaded guilty to one count of lying to a public servant knowing it would likely cause the public servant to use their lawful power to the injury of another person.
Ms Parti had worked for the Liew household from March 2007 as a foreign domestic worker.
The household comprised her employer, Liew Mun Leong, his wife, Ng Lai Peng, their daughter, Liew Cheng May, Karl Liew and his wife Heather Lim.
On multiple occasions, Parti was asked to clean Karl Liew’s home and office, in addition to her employer’s home, which contravenes employment regulations.
On Oct 28, 2016, the Liew family decided to terminate Parti’s employment as they suspected that she was stealing from them.
As she was given two hours to pack her belongings and leave, Parti had asked Karl Liew for big boxes to send her belongings back to Indonesia.
While packing, she threatened to lodge a complaint with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) about being asked to clean Karl Liew’s home and office.
She was interrupted by the employment agency who asked her to leave before she could seal two of the boxes. They were sealed by two drivers who worked for the family.
The family checked the contents of the boxes on Oct 29, 2016, and found items that allegedly belonged to the family.
Liew Mun Leong and Karl Liew filed a police report against Parti on Oct 30, 2016.
On Dec 2, 2016, she was arrested upon her arrival at Changi Airport in Singapore to seek employment.
In August 2017, Parti, 49, was charged with five offences of stealing from the Liew family.
She was tried in court between April 2018 and March 2019, and was convicted of four charges of stealing more than S$30,000 worth of items from the Liew family in March 2019.
She was sentenced to two years and two months’ imprisonment.
The convictions were overturned in the High Court by Justice Chan Seng Onn on Sept 4, 2020.
Parti was acquitted on all four theft charges, nearly four years after she was fired by her former employer.
Lied that Parti Liyana’s blouses were his and stolen from him
One of the charges against Parti alleged that she had stolen various items with a total value of S$46,856 (RM155,000).
These items included 120 pieces of clothing, including a cream polo T-shirt and a red blouse, that were valued at S$150 each.
Karl Liew was called as a witness at Parti’s trial and was cross-examined by her counsel in three different court sessions in 2018.
In one of the sessions, on July 17, 2018, he testified during cross-examination that the cream polo T-shirt and the red blouse belonged to him, despite the fact that he knew this was false.
Lawyer Anil Balchandani, who represented Parti, had asked him whether the two items belonged to him, to which he replied in the affirmative.
Anil then asked whether he remembered when he got the T-shirt and the blouse and when he wore them, to which he said he did not.
The defence counsel then suggested that the reason he could not remember was because he never owned them or wore them, which Liew disagreed with.
Anil suggested that both items were women’s wear and belonged to Parti.
When asked whether the cream polo T-shirt was too small, even if he was cutting mass while working out, Liew said yes.
Before Friday’s sentencing, Deputy Public Prosecutors Kelvin Chong and Etsuko Lim had sought a maximum fine of S$5,000 for Liew.
Anyone convicted of lying to a public servant can be imprisoned up to six months, fined up to S$5,000 or both. — TODAY
