Syed Saddiq stays free after Federal Court 2-1 decision

The Federal Court upheld Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s acquittal over charges of criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of property and money laundering linked to funds from Bersatu Youth.

In a 2-1 decision, the three-person bench, led by Court of Appeal president Abu Bakar Jais, found no appealable error in the Court of Appeal’s findings that acquitted Syed Saddiq last year, as the majority dismissed the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ appeal today.

Federal Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, driving the panel’s majority decision, held that the prosecution failed to prove the essential ingredients of the offences in their appeal.

Che Ruzima Ghazali, also a Federal Court judge, was of the view that no reasonable judge would defer from the lower court’s findings.

“The conviction of the respondent (Syed Saddiq) by the High Court on the four charges is unsafe. The prosecution’s appeal is hereby dismissed,“ he said in affirming the Court of Appeal’s findings.

On June 25 last year, the Court of Appeal acquitted Syed Saddiq, 33, after allowing his appeal to overturn his conviction and seven-year jail sentence, two strokes of the cane and a RM10 million fine imposed by the High Court on Nov 9, 2023.

Dissenting judgment

Abu Bakar, while agreeing with the majority decision on the Court of Appeal’s acquittal on the abetment charge, said the lower court’s findings on the remaining three charges - one CBT and two money laundering charges - were wrong and reinstated the convictions.

On the money laundering offences, Abu Bakar held that the RM120,000 raised through fundraising dinners to finance Syed Saddiq’s campaign during the 2018 general election does not belong to him, but to the donors.

“This misappropriation is proven as the respondent never told the donors he would take the money and put it in his personal account for reimbursement.

“There is no evidence to suggest that the fundraising activities were to reimburse Syed Saddiq’s expenses incurred during the general election.”

Despite his findings, Abu Bakar said his decision is immaterial as the majority of judges have decided in Syed Saddiq’s favour. This drew applause from the MP’s family and supporters seated in the public gallery.

Years-long legal battle

Syed Saddiq was charged in 2021 with four corruption offences - one under Section 403 of the Penal Code for misappropriating RM120,000 from Bersatu Youth Enterprise’s Maybank Islamic Bhd account by making Rafiq Hakim Razali dispose of the funds between April 8 and 21, 2018.

Rafiq was Bersatu Youth’s former assistant treasurer and is also the prosecution’s key witness in this case.

Apart from this, Syed Saddiq, who is the former Muda president, was charged under Section 406 of the Penal Code with abetting Rafiq, who was entrusted with Bersatu Youth’s funds amounting to RM1 million, to commit criminal breach of trust on March 6, 2020.

He was also charged with two counts of money laundering via transactions of RM50,000 each from his Maybank Islamic Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera accounts on June 16 and 19 in 2018, framed under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing, and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.

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