PUTRAJAYA: After waiting more than a year to learn his fate, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (pic) is finally free of his corruption and money laundering convictions.
This follows a 2-1 majority decision by the Federal Court to dismiss the prosecution’s final appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling that acquitted him in June last year.
Justices Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Collin Lawrence Sequerah affirmed the Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit Syed Saddiq.
Court of Appeal president Justice Abu Bakar Jais, who chaired the three-member panel, delivered the dissenting judgment.
“You remain discharged and acquitted,” Justice Abu Bakar said when reading out the Federal Court’s decision yesterday.
Syed Saddiq was initially charged on July 22, 2021, in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with one count of abetting Rafiq Hakim Razali in committing criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving RM1mil belonging to Armada.
He was also charged with misappropriating RM120,000 in election campaign funds belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE). He was later charged in the Johor Baru Sessions Court with two counts of money laundering involving RM100,000 on Aug 5 that year.
The charges were later consolidated and tried jointly, with the Kuala Lumpur High Court finding him guilty on all four charges on Nov 9, 2023.
The court sentenced Syed Saddiq to a total of seven years’ imprisonment, two strokes of the cane and a RM10mil fine.
He was acquitted by the Court of Appeal on June 25 last year, prompting the prosecution to file its final appeal.
On the abetment charge, Justice Che Mohd Ruzima said Syed Saddiq could not be deemed to have abetted the principal offender since Rafiq Hakim was never charged.
The prosecution had contended that Rafiq Hakim committed CBT after acting on Syed Saddiq’s instruction to transfer the funds. He also found that the prosecution failed to prove that the RM120,000 allegedly misappropriated by Syed Saddiq belonged to ABBE.
“On the contrary, the evidence showed that the money came from two fundraising events in Muar, Johor, and De Palma Hotel, Ampang, specifically to fund his political campaign,” said Justice Che Mohd Ruzima.
He added that the High Court’s convictions on all four charges against Syed Saddiq were unsafe.
Justice Sequerah concurred with Justice Che Mohd Ruzima, noting that Syed Saddiq was “legally entitled to the money”.
“Each appeal is dismissed. The Court of Appeal’s decision is hereby affirmed.”
Meanwhile, in his dissenting judgment, Justice Abu Bakar allowed the prosecution’s appeal in part.
He affirmed Syed Saddiq’s acquittal on the abetment charge because an essential ingredient of the offence had not been established.
However, he upheld the convictions on the remaining three charges.
He sentenced the politician to six months’ jail and one stroke of the rotan for misappropriating RM120,000.
For the two money laundering charges, Syed Saddiq was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and fined RM5mil, in default two years’ jail, for each count.
The convictions and sentences, however, were immaterial as they formed part of the minority judgment, Justice Abu Bakar said.
