'Syed Saddiq's sentence reasonable and appropriate'

KUALA LUMPUR: The sentence imposed on Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (pic) in his graft case was reasonable and appropriate partly due to him being a public figure and an idol to the youth, says the High Court.

Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid, in his decision, said the court had considered the Muar MP’s young age and stature as an idol in its sentencing.

“As an MP and an idol to the youth, it is fair that the accused is held to a higher standard to show a good example to the young ones, apart from carrying out his duty as the chosen Muar MP.

“He has time to realise and fix his mistakes and learn from what happened,” the judge said in his full grounds of judgment, made available on the judiciary website.

The 22-page judgment, dated Nov 28, came more than a year after Syed Saddiq’s conviction.

On Nov 9, 2023, the High Court found him guilty of four charges of abetting in criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of funds and money laundering involving RM1.2mil.

He was sentenced to seven years’ jail, a RM10mil fine and two strokes of the cane for all four charges.

Syed Saddiq is the first politician to be facing the whipping sentence, applicable to offenders below 50.

On the finding of guilt, Justice Azhar said it was “unreasonable” for Syed Saddiq, who was part of the top leadership of his former party Bersatu’s youth wing Armada, not to know that RM1mil was withdrawn from the wing’s bank account.

“From the whole testimony, the court is of the opinion that it was unreasonable for a leader of a political party not to have knowledge of a huge amount that was withdrawn from the account.

“Furthermore, the amount was massive.

“The accused’s denial of knowledge on money being deposited and the use of the money was also hard to understand,” he said.

Syed Saddiq, in his defence, said the monies deposited into his personal accounts were a reimbursement for having used his own cash, but the judge said he found no evidence to support the claim.

“Without any evidence to prove this fact, the claim that the money involved was to reimburse (the spending by) the accused is also baseless,” Justice Azhar said.

Syed Saddiq was charged with abetting former Armada assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali, who was entrusted with RM1mil of Armada’s funds, to commit CBT by misappropriating the funds.

On the second charge, the former youth and sports minister was charged with misappropriating RM120,000 from Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise’s Maybank Islamic Bhd account by making Rafiq dispose of the money.

He was also charged with two counts of money laundering, via transactions of RM50,000 each, believed to be proceeds from unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account.

Syed Saddiq is appealing his conviction and sentence. He was granted a stay of execution on the sentence pending the disposal of his appeal.

The appeal is fixed for mention at the Court of Appeal on Jan 16 next year.