Syed Saddiq trial: Prosecution closes oral submissions insisting on Muar MP's 'bad intention'

KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 — The prosecution in Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman's criminal breach trust (CBT) and money laundering trial argued today that he was wrong for withdrawing large sums of money from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's youth wing Armada's bank accounts.

Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said witnesses they called during the trial had shown that the Muar MP had bad intentions when he asked their star witness Rafique Hakim Razali to withdraw RM1 million from a bank account he said belonged to Armada.

Ladin said that Syed Saddiq had abetted Rafique and abused his friends' trust during the ordeal that began with him having RM250,000 stolen from his home.

“Withdrawing the money is not wrong but what I want to bring into question here is the accused's intent. It isn't necessary to think that Rafique had the same intentions as the accused since he had been following orders. Orders to withdraw a large sum of money that did not belong to the accused due to the latter's concerns about the political turmoil happening in the country at the time.

“He abused his friends' trust and the evidence in the WhatsApp messages will show this,” Wan Shaharuddin said during oral submissions in front of High Court Judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid.

“We heard several times in this court how the accused was concerned about the political turmoil surrounding Bersatu and the leadership crisis in the country and he used the excuse that the money was for his own campaigning for the 14th general elections but none of the posters, banners or social media postings stated that these activities were private or personal in nature.”

According to the first charge, Syed Saddiq, 30, as the then Bersatu Youth wing or Armada chief — who was entrusted with control of the wing's funds — abetted Rafiq Hakim Razali, its assistant treasurer at the time, with CBT of RM1 million in funds belonging to the wing.

He is alleged to have committed the offence at CIMB Bank Berhad, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2, here on March 6, 2020, and is charged under Section 406 of the Penal Code, which provides for imprisonment for up to 10 years with whipping, and is liable to a fine, if found guilty.

For the second charge, the accused is charged with misusing property for himself, namely RM120,000 from the Maybank Islamic Berhad account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE), by causing Rafiq to dispose of the money.

Syed Saddiq is accused of having committed the offence at Malayan Banking Berhad, Jalan Pandan 3/6A, Taman Pandan Jaya here, between April 8 and 21, 2018, and charged under Section 403 of the Penal Code, which carries a minimum jail term of six months and a maximum of five years with whipping, and is punishable by a fine, if convicted.

He also faces two counts of engaging in money laundering activities, namely two transactions of RM50,000, believed to be proceeds of unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Berhad account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account.

Syed Saddiq is accused of committing the offence at a bank in Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Baru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.

The Muar MP has always insisted that he had done nothing wrong and that his trial was a political prosecution against him for not supporting then-prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in his attempts to become prime minister.

He said the money he raised was all for campaigning and that they used the ABBE account as it was easier to use a registered account rather than a personal account.

He also said that he had used his own money to the tune of nearly RM171,000 up front and would reimburse himself later from the fundraising money.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Afif Ali however refuted these accounts. Afif said all the money they raised used Bersatu or Armada's logos as well as featured prominent leaders from the party as promotional tools to attract people to come to their events.

As such, he said the money should be exclusively for Bersatu or Armada and not for Syed Saddiq's personal use.

“That's the defence's argument, we feel the money cannot just be for the accused personal use and should've been for the party and its activities hence we dispute the fact the money was for personal use and the accused had bad intentions when he instructed his people to withdraw the money and deposit it into his personal accounts,” Afif said.

Justice Azhar said he needed some time to fix a date to deliver his verdict, and did not fix a date today.