SINGAPORE - A disciplinary tribunal has dismissed a complaint brought by former domestic worker Parti Liyani, who alleged that the two prosecutors conducting her trial had created a false impression that a DVD player was "fully functional".

In grounds of decision dated March 10, the two-member tribunal said it found no cause of sufficient gravity for disciplinary action against Ms Tan Yanying and Mr Tan Wee Hao exists under the Legal Profession Act.

The tribunal also found that the prosecutors' demonstration of the DVD player during her trial was conducted openly and fairly.

In hindsight, said the tribunal, more could have been done during the trial to ascertain the condition of the device, which could record and play videos but could not play DVDs.

The tribunal, comprising Senior Judge Chao Hick Tin and senior lawyer Patrick Ang, made no order as to legal costs.

Ms Parti, 48, was acquitted of stealing from the family of her former employer, prominent businessman Liew Mun Leong, on appeal to the High Court in September 2020.

The High Court found that reasonable doubt had been raised and overturned her conviction on four theft charges relating to $34,000 worth of items.

The case stirred public discussion and led to a nine-hour parliamentary debate over Singapore's criminal justice system.

In June that year, before her acquittal, Ms Parti filed a complaint against the two deputy public prosecutors (DPP) who conducted her district court trial.

The complaint centred on a DVD player, which was among the things she was accused of stealing.

The functionality of the device became a side issue because Ms Parti said that she was allowed to take the DVD player as it was "spoilt" and "broken".

But Mr Liew's wife, Madam Ng Lai Peng, testified that it was working and that she never consented to the maid taking it away.

During the trial in 2018, the prosecutors tested the device in court and showed that it could play a video digitally stored in the hard disk.

When Ms Parti's lawyer, Mr Anil Balchandani, tried to play a disc, error messages "could not initialise disc" and "incompatible and unreadable disc" were displayed.

In October 2020, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon gave the green light for a disciplinary tribunal to be appointed to investigate Ms Parti's complaint.

The hearing was held in September last year, with Ms Parti testifying via video link from Indonesia.

The crux of her complaint was that the prosecutors knew, or had reason to believe, that the device was not fully functional but failed to disclose this to the court.

In her defence, Ms Tan said that her understanding of the case was on the basis that the DVD player was either working or not working.

The thought of the device being partially working was not in her mind at all, contended Ms Tan.

She said that when she tested the device, she could not play the disc that was inside. She then pressed some buttons and the player started playing recorded video footage.

Ms Tan said that once she realised the device could play images from the hard disk, she was satisfied that it was working and hence, she could rebut Ms Parti's claim that the player was "spoilt".

Likewise, Mr Tan said he understood that the term "spoilt" meant "not working".

Both prosecutors said they thought the disc could not be played because it was faulty.

The disciplinary tribunal said the question that arises is whether the prosecutors had knowingly misled the court as to the functionality of the DVD player.

"Having deliberated long and hard over it, we find it difficult to fault the respondents for thinking that the device was working as demonstrated even though they could not play the... disc," said the tribunal.

The tribunal said that just because the device could not play the two discs used in the demonstrations did not necessarily mean that the problem lay with the player.

The error messages could reasonably mean that the discs were problematic, it noted.

The tribunal added that Ms Parti was not misled as to the state of the device because in her mind, "spoilt" and "broken" meant that the player could not work at all.

The tribunal noted that Mr Balchandani also initially believed that the device was not working at all, only to realise later that it had dual functions.

In hindsight, said the tribunal, it could be argued that the two prosecutors should have done more in ascertaining the condition of the device.

Even the defence, which was contending that the device was spoilt, "did not have the conviction or foresight to request the court to direct that the device be examined by an expert", said the tribunal.

An expert report from the manufacturer in October 2020 stated that the "DVD loader mechanism was likely to be defective".

The report stated that video and audio could be recorded on the hard disk and played back.

The expert also explained that the error messages meant that "generally the disc loaded could be faulty or wrong type or recorder is defective".

A spokesman for the Attorney-General’s Chambers said the DPPs “were appreciative of the opportunity to present a full and transparent account of what transpired during the trial”.

Mr Balchandani thanked law firm Peter Low & Choo for its “selfless work” in acting for Ms Parti in the proceedings.