Judge responsible for Parti Liyani’s acquittal to become Senior Judge of the Supreme Court

Singapore — President Halimah Yacob announced in a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday (Nov 15) that High Court judge Chan Seng Onn, who was responsible for overturning the verdict in the high-profile Parti Liyani case last year, will become a Senior Judge of the Supreme Court in January 2022.

Ms Parti, 47, an Indonesian domestic helper whose acquittal made headlines in 2020, worked for the family of the former chairman of the Changi Airport Group (CAG), Mr Liew Mun Leong, from 2007 to 2016. She was dismissed on Oct 28, 2016, and flew home.

Mr Liew filed a police report against Ms Parti, claiming to have found items amongst her boxes that belonged to his family. 

The helper was arrested when she returned to Singapore and was later charged with four counts of theft, involving 144 items valued at more than S$50,000. 

Ms Parti filed a report at the Ministry of Manpower, saying she had been illegally deployed to clean the home and office of the son of Mr Liew.

She was sentenced to two years and two months in jail for theft, which Ms Parti appealed against.

On Sept 4, 2020, she was acquitted of the charges of theft. Justice Chan noted that there was “reason to believe that the Liew family … took the pre-emptive first step to terminate” Ms Parti to prevent her from filing a complaint of illegal deployment.

The judge has had a lengthy and noteworthy career.

“The decisions made and the judgments delivered by Justice Chan during his time on the Bench had richly added to the corpus of Singapore Jurisprudence,” reads the statement from the PMO.

Justice Chan was appointed Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court in Oct 1997, and then served as Solicitor-General in 2001.

In 2007, he returned to the Bench as a High Court Judge. His appointment as High Court Judge was extended in 2019 for a two-year term upon his retirement and extended again last January for another year. His current term expires on Jan 3, 2022.

Amongst the more prominent cases he presided over were the Yishun triple murders in 2008, as well as the case of convicted Malaysian drug trafficker Nagaenthran Dharmalingam. 

Nagaenthran had been scheduled to hang on Wednesday (Nov 10) but the Court of Appeal granted a stay of the judicial execution after he tested positive for Covid. Appeals to pardon Nagaenthran have poured in from all over the globe due to his reduced mental abilities.

Other appointments 

President Yacob also appointed two International Judges (IJs) to the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). 

Justice Yuko Miyazaki, who hails from Japan will be appointed IJ from Jan 3, 2022, to Jan 4, 2024.

Justice Miyazaki has been serving as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan since 2018, breaking tradition by becoming the first justice to issue rulings under her maiden name.

The United States’ Judge Christopher Scott Sontchi will be an International Judge of the SICC from July 4, 2022, to Jan 4, 2024.

Judge Sontchi is set to retire from the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on  June 30, 2022, where he has been chief judge since 2018. /TISG

Read also: Singapore to get third Deputy AG, new High Court judge and new judicial commissioner

Singapore to get third Deputy AG, new High Court judge and new judicial commissioner