KUALA LUMPUR: It was unreasonable for Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who was the top leadership of his former party Bersatu's youth wing Armada, not to know that RM1mil was withdrawn from the wing's bank account, says the High Court.
Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid said this in his finding of Syed Saddiq's guilt on the criminal breach of trust (CBT) charge which he was convicted of on Nov 9, 2023.
The full grounds of judgment, dated Nov 28, was made available on the judiciary website more than a year after the court's decision.
"From the whole testimony, the court is of the opinion that it was unreasonable for a leader of a political party not to have knowledge of a huge amount that was withdrawn from the account, furthermore the amount was massive.
"The accused's denial of knowledge on money being deposited and the use of the money was also hard to understand," the judge said.
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.
On Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's claim that the monies deposited into his personal accounts was a reimbursement for having used his own cash, the judge said he found no evidence to support the claim.
"Without any evidence to prove this fact, the claim that the money involved was to reimburse (the spending by) the accused is also baseless," Justice Azhar said.
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.
On sentencing, Justice Azhar said he found the sentence to be reasonable and just after considering that Syed Saddiq was a first-time offender.
"As an MP and an idol to the youth, it is fair that the accused is held to a higher standard to show a good example to the young ones apart from carrying out his duty as a chosen Muar MP," he said.
Justice Azhar said Syed Saddiq's young age was also considered in sentencing.
"He has time to realise and fix his mistakes and learn from what happened," the judge added.
Syed Saddiq, who is the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) co-founder, is appealing his conviction and sentence.
The High Court granted a stay of execution on the sentence pending the disposal of the appeal.
Syed Saddiq has since resigned from his post as Muda president after the conviction.
The appeal is fixed for mention at the Court of Appeal on Jan 16, 2025.
