FDW Who’s Acquitted of Stealing Now ‘Sues the Government’s Lawyers’. Here’s What That Means

Last Updated on 2020-11-11 , 1:23 pm

The whole Liew Mun Leong saga might appear to have ended for foreign domestic worker Parti Liyani, but no; this is just the beginning.

Because Ms Parti isn’t just going to breathe a sigh of relief and go home for a nice sleep after the whole ordeal—she’s fought for justice and won, and she’s continuing her fight.

But before you think that she’s going to sue Liew Mun Leong instead, hold your horses.

You need to know the difference between a civil case and a criminal case.

Difference Between Civil Case and a Criminal Case

To fully understand the case, you need to know this: Ms Parti was charged by the prosecution—in other words, it’s not a civil case but a criminal case. This means the Government, and in this case, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (ACG), is involved.

To give you a simple idea of why the Government is involved, let’s use an example.

Let’s say Ah Hock wants to sue Ah Lian for stealing his heart. In this case, the Government, which is the AGC, won’t be involved because it’s a civil case between Ah Hock and Ah Lian.

But if Ah Lian uses a knife to stab Ah Hock’s heart to literally steal his heart, then Ah Hock doesn’t need to sue Ah Lian; instead, the AGC will “sue” (the correct term is “charge”) Ah Lian. This is called a “criminal case”.

So, even when Ms Parti is accused of stealing from the Liew family, it’s a criminal case (stealing is against the law) so the AGC is the one that charged her.

The judge is just…someone who decides who wins or loses lah.

So, as you can see, Ms Parti is…”sued by the Government”. If you commit any criminal act, you’d be “sued by the Government.”

And now, she’s doing the opposition; she’s now suing the Government.

Or to be specific, she has taken to court to seek disciplinary proceedings against the prosecutors in her case.

Public Prosecutors, The People Who Make People Cry

Most of the times, we remember public prosecutors as lawyers who have beautiful one-liners—whether in Korean dramas or in CNA.

In the case of the BKT lover, the prosecutor countered the BKT lover’s argument about the “vague” instructions with a passive-aggressive sentence, saying that “the accused is justified in not going home immediately because the Government didn’t do enough to provide him with an escort, to provide him to his doorstep, or even better, a designated hotel.”

Remember: during that time, there was no designated hotel for SHN.

You can say that prosecutors are the “Government’s lawyers” lah, meant to keep the laws in check. Without them, no one would charge anyone committing any crime.

In Ms Parti’s case, since it’s a criminal case, she was up against the prosecutors, who are from the AGC.

According to reports, her lawyer has attended a pre-trial conference in the High Court today (23 Sept) against representatives from the AGC. Usually, a pre-trial conference is attended before a court hearing is initiated.

So what’s going to happen next?

Section 82A of the Legal Profession Act

You see, the whole “suing” is actually for Section 82A of the Legal Profession Act—in which it’s for disciplinary proceedings against legal service officers.

This is chim, so let’s use a medical doctor as an example. If a medical doctor told you to drink bleach to cure your COVID-19, that’s definitely wrong that he won’t just be scolded by his boss; he’ll be dealt with by another set of laws.

Agak agak this works the same way in the lawyers’ world.

If the prosecutors are found to be guilty of misconduct befitting their post as an advocate and solicitor, they could be punished.

Penalties include censures, being struck off the roll, penalty of up to S$20,000, or any other order a disciplinary tribunal deems fit.

So yes: Ms Parti isn’t going to get anything out from this except one intangible achievement: justice.

That is, if the prosecutors are misled also lah.

As for the Liew family, I can bet that with Ms Parti going for the prosecutors, I don’t think she’s going to let the Liew family live happily ever after from now on.