Prosecution to prove Syed Saddiq's offences malicious, dishonest

KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution in the case of Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who faces four charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of funds and money laundering, will prove that all offences allegedly committed by the Muar Member of Parliament (MP) are of malicious intent and dishonest.

Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, who led the prosecution team, said his team would rely on a combination of direct evidence, circumstances, and documents in proving the case against the accused.

"The evidence under Sections 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the Evidence Act 1950 is not in favour of the accused.

"We will also not use the presumption under Section 409A of the Penal Code in proving our case against the accused later," he said while reading the prosecution's opening statement on the first day of the trial before High Court Judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid.

Syed Saddiq, 29, clad in blue batik shirt, arrived at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex at about 9 am.

After reading the opening statement, the prosecution called its first witness, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer, Mohd Taufik Awaluddin, 30, to testify.

Syed Saddiq was represented by lawyers Gobind Singh Deo, Datuk S. Ambiga, Haijan Omar and Lim Wei Jeit.

Earlier, Wan Shaharuddin informed the court that the prosecution had filed two amended charges related to CBT by removing the word 'cheating' and replacing it with 'dishonest'.

The two charges were then read back to Syed Saddiq and he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

According to the first charge, Syed Saddiq is charged as the then Bersatu's youth wing or Armada chief - who was entrusted with control of Armada funds - of abetting Rafiq Hakim Razali, Armada's assistant treasurer at the time, with CBT of RM1 million in funds belonging to the wing.

He is alleged of having 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 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 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 Bahru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.

The charges are framed under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 which is punishable under Section 4 (1) of the same law, which provides maximum imprisonment of 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount or the proceeds of illegal activities, upon conviction.

-- BERNAMA