PETALING JAYA: Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has instructed his lawyers to appeal his conviction in the criminal breach of trust (CBT) case following the release of the full written judgment.
"Today, after anxiously waiting for more than 386 days, I have finally received the written judgment from the Yang Arif High Court Judge, which will allow me to commence my appeal in court.
"I have instructed my lawyers, Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden and Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, to immediately prepare for my appeal and fight vigorously for the truth in the court of law.
"I pledge not to waste the court’s precious time and want my appeal to be heard as soon as possible," said the Muar MP on Instagram on Friday (Nov 29).
The full grounds of judgment, dated Nov 28, was made available on the judiciary website more than a year after the court's decision.
Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid had said in the judgement that it was unreasonable for Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who was the top leader of his former party Bersatu's youth wing Armada, not to know that RM1mil was withdrawn from the wing's bank account.
Syed Saddiq was charged with abetting former Armada assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali, who was entrusted with RM1mil of Armada's funds, to commit a criminal breach of trust by misappropriating the funds.
On the second charge, the former youth and sports minister was accused of misappropriating RM120,000 from Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise’s Maybank Islamic Bhd account by making Rafiq dispose of the money.
He is also facing two counts of money laundering, via transactions of RM50,000 each, believed to be proceeds from unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account.
Syed Saddiq was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, a RM10mil fine and two strokes of the cane for all four charges of abetting in criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of funds and money laundering.
He is the first politician to be facing the whipping sentence, applicable to offenders below 50.
Syed Saddiq, who is the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) co-founder, has since resigned from his post as Muda president after the conviction.
The High Court granted a stay of execution on the sentence pending the disposal of the appeal.
The appeal is fixed for mention at the Court of Appeal on Jan 16, 2025.
