Syed Saddiq lists 18 reasons why he should be freed in graft case

Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman has filed his petition of appeal listing 18 reasons why he should be acquitted and discharged on the four charges related to Bersatu Youth funds.

The petition of appeal was filed today through law firm Messrs Wong Kian Kheong. This was confirmed to Bernama by one of Syed Saddiq’s lawyers, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik.

Senior counsel Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden will be leading the defence team in the appeal, with Hisyam, as well as lawyers Alex Tan Chie Sian, Low Wei Loke, Kee Wei Lon and Beston Tan.

The Court of Appeal has set two days - Jan 19 and 20 - to hear Syed Saddiq’s appeal against his conviction and sentence.

The High Court, on Nov 9 last year, sentenced the former youth and sports minister to seven years in prison, two strokes of the cane, and an RM10 million fine after finding him guilty of four charges involving conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of funds and money laundering related to the Bersatu Youth funds.

The 31-year-old then filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal seeking to reverse the decision.

Erred in law, fact

In the petition of appeal, Syed Saddiq said the trial judge erred in law and fact when he convicted him for the offences, claiming that the judge did not consider all the evidence as required by the law, thus breaching Section 182A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

He also said he was denied a fair trial due to multiple appealable errors committed by the trial judge.

In his petition, Syed Saddiq asserted that various aspects of the evidence favouring him were not considered by the trial judge and that the defence case was not assessed in a fair and just manner.

Furthermore, he maintained the sentences imposed on him were manifestly excessive and did not align with the sentencing principles.

The Muar MP is seeking to have the conviction overturned and to be acquitted and discharged.

Charges

On the first charge of conspiring with the then assistant treasurer of Bersatu Youth, Rafiq Hakim Razali, Syed Saddiq claimed that High Court judge Azhar Abdul Hamid erred in equating “disbursement” with “expenditure”.

He claimed the judge’s decision that there was a prima facie case against him on the second charge of misappropriation of funds was contrary to the finding that the RM120,000 was for his use.

“Therefore, the judge erred in deciding that there is a prima facie case against me under the second charge when he (the judge) took into account irrelevant facts and erred by relying on hearsay evidence,” he said.

The former Bersatu Youth leader said that due to the mistake made by the judge in the second charge, the judge also erred in deciding that there was a prima facie case for the third and fourth charges since the offences were predicated on the second charge.

Prejudicial grounds

Syed Saddiq also claimed that the grounds of the judgment given about 13 months after the decision on Nov 9, 2023, had prejudiced him.

“The judge did not consider all the evidence as required by law, violate Section 182A of the Criminal Procedure Code and there was no fair and impartial assessment of the defence case in respect of all four charges.

“If the judge had considered all the evidence, the judge would have found that I had raised a reasonable doubt to all four charges,” he said.

“Therefore, I request that the conviction and sentence be set aside and that I be acquitted and discharged. The punishment that has been handed down is extreme and does not follow the principles of acceptable punishment,” he said.

On the charge of abetting Rafiq, who was entrusted with RM1 million of Bersatu Youth’s funds, to commit CBT by misappropriating the funds, Syed Saddiq was charged with committing the offence at CIMB Bank Berhad, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2 on March 6, 2020.

For the second charge, he was accused of misappropriating RM120,000 from Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise’s Maybank Islamic Berhad account by making Rafiq dispose of the money.

Syed Saddiq was charged with another two counts of money laundering via transactions of RM50,000 each, believed to be proceeds from unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Berhad account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account in a bank at Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.

The High Court had allowed Syed Saddiq’s application to stay the execution of all sentences pending appeal.

- Bernama

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