PUTRAJAYA: Member of Parliament for Muar, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman was fortunate when the Court of Appeal here on Wednesday acquitted him of four charges of abetting criminal breach of trust (CBT) misappropriation of Angkatan Bersatu Anak Muda (ARMADA) funds and money laundering seven years ago.
It involves one count of conspiracy to breach of trust amounting to RM1 million, one charge of misappropriation of property (RM120,000) and two counts of money laundering (AMLA) each (RM50,000).
A three-judge panel led by Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim sitting with Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin made the decision after allowing the appeal of former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq, 33, to set aside his conviction, seven years prison sentence, RM10 million fine and two strokes of the rotan by the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Hearing the verdict, Syed Saddiq as the appellant, who was wearing a black coat, then hugged his parents while being watched by the singer, Bella Astillah.
When reading out the unanimous verdict which took one hour and 11 minutes, Judge Noorin said the charges against the Johor Bahru-born child were baseless.
“The act of ordering or instructing someone to withdraw money, cannot be said to be disposing of funds.
“The prosecution failed to prove Syed Saddiq’s dishonest intentions when he gave instructions for the RM1 million to be withdrawn from the Armada fund,” he said.
In addition, he said the prosecution had failed to prove that the former Bersatu Armada Chief was dishonest, causing the appellant to mis-obtain profits and losses to the party.
Meanwhile, Judge Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim who chaired the panel of three judges said the decision was made based solely on the court’s record and had never considered the opinions that went viral in the social media.
“The ‘naughty’ statement like that need not be raised to avoid sedition within the parties who have no idea on the court’s procedure that makes the decision,” he said.
Ahmad Zaidi elaborated on that after the prosecutor brought up the issue during the submission stating that the court should not be carried away with the public’s opinion in making decision on Syed Saddiq’s app
