Saddiq's case: Court tells prosecution to hand over witness statement
Trial judicial commissioner Azhar Abdul Hamid this morning allowed the former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s application for the MACC statements to be given to the court.
Following the ruling, the court will later look at the statement and...
The Kuala Lumpur High Court directed the prosecution to hand over the statement given by key prosecution witness, former Bersatu treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali.
Trial judicial commissioner Azhar Abdul Hamid this morning allowed the former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s application for the MACC statements to be given to the court.
Following the ruling, the court will later look at the statement and determine whether Rafiq’s testimony contradicted what he told the MACC when the antigraft agency recorded his statement during the investigation.
Syed Saddiq sought for the prosecution to hand the MACC statement to the court as part of the accused’s bid to impeach the credibility of Rafiq.
Impeachment is a procedure where a party seeks to discredit the credibility of a witness.
Rafiq’s oral evidence was in relation to the ongoing misappropriation trial against Syed Saddiq involving funds belonging to Bersatu’s youth wing.
The purported contradictions were in relation to Rafiq’s testimony that claimed that the former Bersatu Youth chief ordered him to withdraw RM1 million from the youth’s account.
Among the alleged inconsistencies was the location where Syed Saddiq was purported to have issued the order to the witness.
Another purported contradiction was on whether the funds withdrawn were ever really Bersatu Youth’s funds or Syed Saddiq’s personal money.
Back on July 5, Rafiq 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.
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.
He previously mounted an unsuccessful bid for leave to commence impeachment proceedings against Rafiq, which was premised over the latter's witness statement which was not tendered in court.
Four charges
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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