Court bins Syed Saddiq’s bid to impeach key prosecution witness
The Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning dismissed the Muar MP’s impeachment application against the key prosecution witness.
The former youth and sports minister’s legal team...
Former Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has failed in his bid to discredit the testimony of the wing’s former treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning dismissed the Muar MP’s impeachment application against the key prosecution witness.
The former youth and sports minister’s legal team sought the impeachment on grounds that Rafiq’s testimony was purportedly contradictory and inconsistent.
Muda co-founder Syed Saddiq (above) is on trial over the alleged misappropriation of RM1.2 million of Bersatu youth’s funds purportedly committed during his time in the ruling political party.
Trial judge Azhar Abdul Hamid ruled that the application was not allowed because the defence was trying to rely on Rafiq’s witness statement that was never tendered in court.
"I agree with the submission by the prosecution that this statement which the defence sought to rely on is not a witness statement under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).
"Therefore, that statement cannot be used as a reason to impeach the credibility of the witness," the judge said.
The accused’s lead defence counsel Gobind Singh Deo then informed that they would file to access Rafiq’s statement recorded by MACC in 2020 during the investigation into the case.
It is understood that despite today's ruling, the court left it open for the defence to mount another bid to impeach Rafiq through another documentary basis.
During the trial, Rafiq was testifying orally without the written witness statement ever being tendered as evidence in court.
Back on July 5, he testified that Syed Saddiq ordered him to ‘clear’ part of the RM1 million of Bersatu Youth funds, following the MACC probe into the accused’s report over an alleged missing RM250,000.
However, a day later, while under cross-examination by Syed Saddiq’s legal team, the witness admitted the word “clear-kan” was not the exact word used by the accused in relation to the RM1 million.
Proceedings tomorrow is expected to see the oral testimony of the MACC investigating officer (IO) into the case of the allegedly missing RM250,000.
In March 2020, it was reported that Syed Saddiq lodged a police report over the RM250,000 that allegedly went missing from his house in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
CBT and money laundering
The accused is on trial over four charges.
On one of the four charges, namely for criminal breach of trust (CBT), Syed Saddiq, 29, in his capacity as then Bersatu Youth chief entrusted with party funds, allegedly committed the offence by withdrawing RM1 million via a CIMB Bank Berhad cheque without the permission of the party’s supreme council.
He was purported to have committed the offence at CIMB Bank Berhad, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2, Kuala Lumpur, on March 6, 2020.
The CBT charge is framed under Section 405 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 406 of the same law, which provides a jail term of up to 10 years, with whipping and a fine as well, upon conviction.
Syed Saddiq was also charged with misusing RM120,000 in contributions for the 14th general election campaign raised through a Maybank Islamic Berhad account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE) at Maybank Islamic Berhad, Jalan Pandan 3/6A, Taman Pandan Jaya, between April 8 and 21, 2018.
He may be imprisoned for up to five years, with whipping and a fine as well, if found guilty of the offence framed under Section 403 of the Penal Code.
He was also charged with two counts of money laundering, namely two transactions of RM50,000 alleged to be proceeds of unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Berhad account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account at a bank in Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru, on June 16 and June 19, 2018.
These charges fall under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, which are punishable under Section 4(1) of the same act, providing maximum imprisonment of 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount, or the proceeds of the illegal activities.
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