The chairman of Singapore鈥檚 award-winning Changi Airport, Liew Mun Leong, is facing growing criticism on social media after a court overturned a conviction against a domestic worker who had been charged with stealing from his household.
Singapore鈥檚 High Court last week acquitted Parti Liyani, an Indonesian maid, with Justice Chan Seng Onn saying that the Liew family had an 鈥渋mproper motive鈥 for accusing the helper of stealing S$34,000 ($24,810) worth of items such as watches and clothes. The court also found the testimony of Karl Liew, Liew Mun Leong鈥檚 son, questionable, according to .
The judge noted there was reason to believe that the affluent family filed a police report against their former maid to prevent her from lodging a complaint to the Ministry of Manpower about her work arrangements, that included being to clean Mr. Liew鈥檚 son鈥檚 home and office in addition to Mr. Liew鈥檚 house.
When contacted, Mr. Liew said that as the High Court has made its judgment of the case, he should respect it and will not make any further comments.
The scandal has sparked a fierce backlash in the city-state, including angry comments on the airport鈥檚 calling for him to step down. It has also raised questions about how the system treated one of the city-state鈥檚 most prominent businessmen compared to a low-paid migrant worker who worked for them.
NOT A 鈥榃ITCH HUNT鈥
Besides being of Changi Airport Group, Mr. Liew is also of urban consultancy Surbana Jurong Pte. and was the founding chief executive officer of real estate giant Capitaland Ltd. He was also on the board of Singapore Exchange Ltd. and is a senior international business adviser of state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte., among many senior leadership positions.
鈥淪omething has gone wrong in some part of the chain of events,鈥 Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam in a post on his Facebook page. 鈥淲e have to review, deal with it. At this point, we shouldn鈥檛 prejudge or speculate on which of part the process could have gone wrong. This is why reviews are being conducted.鈥
Singapore鈥檚 Attorney-General鈥檚 Chambers is reviewing the case and the judge鈥檚 comments to see if any further action should be taken. The Ministry of Manpower and police are also reviewing how the case was handled.
Mr. Shanmugam said the process must be fair, but not a 鈥渨itch hunt,鈥 adding the agencies will review what happened, why it happened, and 鈥渨e will then need to be accountable, on what steps we will take,鈥 so as to continue to maintain trust in the system.
Temasek鈥檚 investment arm CEO Dilhan Pillay said Tuesday during the firm鈥檚 annual review that Liew is among many who have contributed to Singapore over the years.
鈥淭here are many individuals who have contributed to both public service and to the private sector in Singapore, for the benefit of Singapore and our population as a whole. Liew Mun Leong is one of those persons,鈥 Mr. Pillay , responding to a question about the incident.
鈥淭he court case has just had one phase of it done, there are ongoing proceedings and I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 appropriate for me to comment on that. What I can say is that we should hear from Mr. Liew on his side of the issue, and not come quick to judgment until we鈥檝e heard all sides of things.鈥 鈥 Bloomberg
