Syed Saddiq’s reimbursement claim an ‘afterthought’ defence, appeals court hears

PUTRAJAYA: Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s argument that the money collected from political fundraising programmes transferred to his personal account for reimbursement of his own monies was “an afterthought defence”, the Court of Appeal heard on Thursday (April 17).

Deputy Public Prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan pointed out that the former Bersatu Armada chief did not inform crucial witnesses – then Armada assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali and his former private secretary Siti Nurul Hidayah – on the purpose of fundraising programmes which was to reimburse the costs he had incurred for his political campaign in the 14th General Election.

Farah Ezlin said that the witnesses had confirmed that fundraising programmes were held as part of Syed Saddiq’s political campaign for the GE14.

Her arguments focused on Syed Saddiq’s misappropriation charge – framed under Section 403 of the Penal Code – concerning alleged misuse of RM120,000 of party contributions belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE) in April 2018.

Syed Saddiq had instructed Rafiq Hakim to transfer a sum of RM120,000 from the ABBE account into his Maybank personal account through four transactions on May 8, 11, 12 and 21 in 2018 to be used for the GE14 campaign.

Syed Saddiq then transferred the amount into his own Amanah Saham Berhad (ASB) account, which was clearly a misappropriation of funds, said Farah Ezlin.

Earlier, DPP Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin continued his submission, addressing Syed Saddiq’s first charge under Section 406 of the Penal Code.

Under the charge, the Muda co-founder was accused of abetting Rafiq in committing criminal breach of trust (CBT) over RM1mil linked to Armada in March 2020.

Wan Shaharuddin said that Syed Saddiq had instructed Rafiq to “clear” the cash to avoid it from being seized by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

“The accused is the mastermind of the withdrawal of the funds, he was also the person behind the order to ‘clear’ the cash away,” he said, adding that there was no explanation provided by Syed Saddiq for his instructions.

The DPP urged the panel to look at the case as a whole, instead of in segregated segments.

Wan Shaharuddin argued that the sentence meted out by the High Court the former Cabinet minister should be maintained.

He was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, a RM10mil fine and two strokes of the cane for all four charges of abetting in criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of funds and money laundering.

The proceedings were held before a three-judge panel, chaired by Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim.

Other judges on the bench are Justices Azman Abdullah and Noorin Badaruddin.

The panel of judges has reserved its decision and fixed April 24 for case management to set a judgement date.