THE wife of a Singapore tycoon accused of slapping a Singapore Airlines stewardess was acquitted by a court on Thursday after the prosecution withdrew the case against her.

Tan Siew Hoon, 61, was given an acquittal amounting to a discharge when the prosecution dropped her charge for slapping 25-year-old stewardess Then Jiamin on board an SIA flight to Tokyo on Sept 20 last year.

She and her husband, Venture Corp chief executive officer Wong Ngit Leong, 65, were in the business-class cabin at the time.

At her previous appearance in court on April 3, Tan's lawyer, Mr Ravinderpal Singh, told the court that his client was trying to settle the case out of court but the attempts had been turned down by the prosecution. He said he would be making further representations to have the charge withdraw.

After her acquittal, Tan walked out of the courtroom with her husband and refused to respond to questions from reporters.

Tan recently settled a civil claim, for unspecified damages for 'emotional and mental distress', filed by the stewardess.

The stewardess had sought damages for 'emotional and mental distress' as a result of the 'wrongful assault and battery' as well as for defamation.

She had claimed that they were about 80 minutes from Tokyo's Narita airport and she was serving Mr Wong when Tan became upset and slapped her.

She also claimed that after the alleged assault, Tan asked her loudly: 'Why are you talking to my husband?'

The terms of their settlement were confidential.

Tan's husband is one of Singapore's richest men. His company Venture Corp is Singapore's second largest contract manufacturer which makes computer and printer parts for some of the world's top tech firms.