PUTRAJAYA: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong today denied allegations that he had interfered with the decision of Singapore’s Court of Appeal to stay the execution of Malaysian citizen Pannir Selvam Pranthaman.
In a statement, Liew said he had spoken to Singapore’s Senior Minister in the Ministry of Law last Wednesday on Pannir’s case, as he was unable to speak to Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam, who was unavailable at that time.
Liew said he also sought the foreign minister’s blessings to communicate with the Singapore government and to write an email to them where he made a representation based on valid legal grounds.
“The allegation that I have interfered with their judicial system is totally unfounded and baseless. It’s purely a figment of an imagination on someone’s part,” said Liew, who is in charge of law and parliamentary affairs.
Liew said he was issuing the statement to place the narrative in a correct perspective to avoid further confusion and unnecessary innuendos from some people as there have been some serious allegations made against him by certain quarters across the causeway.
Explaining further, Liew said Pannir had applied for a stay of his execution last Wednesday by challenging the prosecution’s failure to issue a certificate on his claim that he had assisted the Singapore police during the investigation to deter a drug activity there.
The 32-year-old Malaysian also challenged the rejection of the petition for clemency by the Singapore President which according to Pannir was only served to him on May 17, 2019, the same day his sister was notified of his impending execution.
“The hearing of the motion was fixed on Thursday at 2.30pm before the Singapore’s Court of Appeal which, having heard the submissions from Pannir’s two counsels who were engaged, on pro bono basis, just an hour before the hearing, allowed the stay of execution and the scheduled execution on Friday was then aborted immediately,” he said.
Liew said even though he has not had the benefit of reading the grounds of the decision, it was obvious that the Singapore court made its decision after having considered the prevailing circumstances and the rule of law applicable to the case.
“It is therefore equally untenable to allege that there’s an interference on my part to their judicial process.
“I, and so is every one of us here in Malaysia, respect the decision of the Singapore’s Court,” Liew said.
Pannir, convicted of drug trafficking, was originally scheduled to hang last Friday, before Singapore’s Court of Appeal allowed last Thursday a stay of the execution to enable him to challenge the refusal of clemency.
Pannir was convicted on June 27, 2017 by the Singapore High Court of trafficking in 51.84g of diamorphine at the Woodlands Checkpoint on Sept 3, 2014. -Bernama
