Wednesday January 16, 2013

Dad sells kids to pay off his debts

By YVONNE LIM
yvonnelim@thestar.com.my

Anxious mum: Liew (left) and her sister Liew Kim Len holding up her children’s photos at the MCA Public Complaints and Services Department.

PETALING JAYA: A lorry driver deep in gambling debts sold three of his children to pay off his creditors.

The children's mother, Liew Kim Yow, 27, said the 25-year-old man, whom she referred to as her “boyfriend” because they were not legally married, had suggested in September that his mother take care of their two sons, aged one and three and their five-year-old daughter, while they went to Singapore to work.

They have been living together in Serendah, Hulu Selangor, for seven years.

Liew, who is unemployed, stayed at home to take care of the children while the man worked as a lorry driver.

But after three months, she suspected something amiss because their plans to move to Singapore did not materialise and he kept giving excuses each time she wanted to see their children.

“He told me before that someone had offered him RM50,000 to adopt our son and RM20,000 for our eldest daughter. I told him that no matter how poor we were, we could not sell our children,” she said at the MCA Public Complaints and Services Department here yesterday.

On Dec 23 last year, she lodged a report against the man at the Serendah police station.

To her shock, she found out that he had lodged a report in October alleging that she had been missing from home since May.

In his report, he claimed that he had no choice but to give up his children for adoption as he could not afford to raise them single-handedly.

Denying that she had ever left home, Liew said her boyfriend was a compulsive gambler who had been in trouble with loan sharks before but his parents paid off his debts.

The man has since disappeared and attempts to contact him have failed.

Hulu Selangor OCPD Supt Norel Azmi Yahya Afendy confirmed having received the report.

Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong urged those who had “adopted” the children to contact his office immediately.

“As there were no court orders for these adoptions, they are not legal. If the adoptive parents' refuse to come forward, we will bring them to court,” he said.

He said that if the children's father was found to have “sold” them, he could be charged with human trafficking.

The MCA Public Complaints and Services Department can be contacted at 03-2203 3888.

News

Wednesday January 16, 2013

Dad sells kids to pay off his debts

By YVONNE LIM yvonnelim@thestar.com.my

By YVONNE LIM
yvonnelim@thestar.com.my