Syed Saddiq found guilty of all four charges in criminal trial involving ...

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 9): The High Court has found Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman guilty of all four charges in a criminal trial involving misappropriation of more than RM1 million belonging to the youth wing of his former party, Bersatu.

In delivering the verdict on Thursday, High Court judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid said that the former youth and sports minister had failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case.

"The court has given maximum consideration to all the testimonies before the court as required per law. The defence put forth by the accused has failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case for all four charges. [The court also finds that] the prosecution has managed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. Therefore, the accused is found guilty on all four charges," he said.

Azhar said he arrived at his decision after listening to the testimonies of all 29 prosecution witnesses and the four defence witnesses, which included the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) president himself.

Azhar stated that he will not give the grounds for the decision on Thursday, but upon being queried by lead defense counsel Gobind Singh Deo, he mentioned it would be completed in one to two weeks. 

The parties are currently submitting on sentencing. 

In this trial, the former youth and sports minister faced four charges in total — one charge of abetting Rafiq Hakim Razali, a former assistant treasurer of Bersatu's youth wing Angkatan Bersatu Anak Muda (Armada) in committing criminal breach of trust (CBT), one charge of misappropriation of party funds, and two money-laundering charges.

For the first charge, the politician was accused of abetting Rafiq to commit CBT of RM1 million in funds belonging to the party's youth wing in March 2020.

This charge was framed under Section 406 of the Penal Code, which provides a punishment of jail term of up to 10 years, whipping and a fine.

As for the second charge, Syed Saddiq was charged with misusing RM120,000 of party contributions belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise in April 2018.

This charge was framed under Section 403 of the Penal Code, which carries a punishment of imprisonment of up to five years, whipping and a fine.

The Muda president also faced two charges of engaging in money-laundering activities involving two transactions of RM50,000 each in June 2018.  

These charges were framed under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, and were punishable under Section 4(1) of the same Act, with a maximum jail term of 15 years, and a fine of not less than five times the amount involved.