PUTRAJAYA: Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has listed 18 reasons in his petition of appeal as to why he should be acquitted and discharged of four charges of committing breach of trust, misappropriating funds and money laundering involving RM1.2mil.
The petition was filed at the Court of Appeal through law firm Messrs Wong Kian Kheong here on Thursday (Dec 12).
Among the reasons he cited in the document was the delay in delivery of the full grounds of judgment from trial judge Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid.
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"The delivery of the grounds of judgment 13 months after the decision has compromised the... advantage enjoyed by the learned trial judge.
"The delay has caused prejudice to the appellant, in that aspects of the evidence that spoke in favour of the defence were not considered at all," Syed Saddiq said in the petition.
The former youth and sports minister also claimed that the trial judge had erred when he failed to consider the ingredient and requirement of Section 405 of the Penal Code.
Syed Saddiq further claimed that the trial judge had erred when he (the judge) equated "withdrawal" with "expenses", and when he relied on hearsay evidence.
"There is a failure in justice when the trial judge did not consider the serious submissions presented by the defence at the end of the prima facie case and the end of the defence case," he added.
The Court of Appeal has fixed March 19 and 20 to hear the appeal.
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On Nov 9 last year, the High Court found Syed Saddiq guilty of four charges of abetting in criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of funds and money laundering involving RM1.2mil.
He was sentenced to seven years' jail, a RM10mil fine and two strokes of the cane for all four charges.
He was charged with abetting former Armada assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali, who was entrusted with RM1mil of Armada's funds, to commit CBT by misappropriating the funds.
On the second charge, he was charged with misappropriating RM120,000 from Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise’s Maybank Islamic Bhd account by making Rafiq dispose of the money.
He was also charged with 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.
He was granted a stay of execution on the sentence pending the disposal of his appeal.
On Nov 28 this year, the 22-page judgment from the High Court was released on the judiciary website.
