Syed Saddiq apologises in court for comments on witness' credibility

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who faces four charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of funds and money laundering, today apologised in the High Court here for commenting on the ongoing trial on his social media site.

Syed Saddiq made the apology after being given a final warning by Judicial Commissioner Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid.

"I offer my humblest apologies," said Syed Saddiq.

Azhar gave the warning after deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the court that a police report had been lodged against the Muar MP for reposting a post made by his friend, Ahmad Zarul Afiq regarding the trial proceedings and the credibility of the 13th prosecution witness, Rafiq Hakim Razali, who is former assistant treasurer of Bersatu youth wing or Armada .

Syed Saddiq's lawyer Gobind Singh Deo appeared shocked by the issue raised and told the court that his client had deleted the post.

"I told him (Syed Saddiq) this is something that you cannot be saying and asked him to be careful next time. He has already deleted his post," Gobind said.

This is the second apology made by the defence team on the same matter within a week.

On July 4, another lawyer representing Syed Saddiq, Haijan Omar, apologised to the court after one of the politician's lawyers, Lim Wei Jit, made a public statement on the case.

Earlier, on the defence's application to impeach Rafiq Hakim, Wan Shaharuddin said there were preconditions to be met by those who wanted the witness' written statement to be admissible in court, under Section 402B of the Criminal Procedure Code.

"As the written statement was not signed by the witness, the first precondition under Section 402B (2) failed to be complied with," he said.

Gobind asked the court to use its discretion to allow the defence to start proceedings to challenge Rafiq Hakim's credibility because the witness statement was given to the defence before the trial began, even though it was not used in court

Azhar then set July 18 to deliver his decision.

Syed Saddiq, 29, is charged as the then Armada chief - who was entrusted with control of Armada funds - of abetting Rafiq Hakim, with CBT of RM1 million in funds belonging to the wing.

He is alleged to have committed the offence at CIMB Bank Bhd, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2, here on March 6, 2020,

He is also charged with misusing property for himself, namely RM120,000 from the Maybank Islamic Bhd account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise by causing Rafiq to dispose of the money at Malayan Banking Berhad, Jalan Pandan 3/6A, Taman Pandan Jaya here between April 8 and 21, 2018.

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 Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account, on June 16 and 19, 2018.

-- BERNAMA