An MACC officer could not properly explain what happened to RM20,000 out of about RM120,000 that was raised for Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s 2018 election campaign.
During proceedings before judicial commissioner Azhar Abdul Hamid, Nurul Hidayah Kamaruddin claimed her investigation found about RM120,000 was raised through two events.
The fundraising events were held at Muar, Johor, and Ampang, Selangor, between April 7 and 8, 2018.
The 26th prosecution witness, in her testimony before the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, said RM100,000 of the total amount was transferred to the Syed Saddiq’s (above) Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) investment account.
She testified, during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Afif Ali, that the RM100,000 was transferred in two tranches of RM50,000 each between June 16 and 19, 2018.
“The contribution of RM120,000 was not used for the (Syed Saddiq election) campaign.
“The money was transferred into (the accused’s) ASB account in June (2018) via two transactions totalling RM100,000,” the witness claimed.
However, while being cross-examined by defence counsel Gobind Singh Deo, the witness could not offer a proper explanation of what happened to the remaining RM20,000.
Whenever the counsel asked about the balance, after RM100,000 allegedly went into Syed Saddiq’s account, Nurul Hidayah asked him to repeat the question several times.
She then reiterated her investigation found not a single sen of the total funds was ever used for Syed Saddiq’s 14th general election (GE14) campaign.
Officer brings up Syed Saddiq’s father
Gobind’s grilling intensified when Nurul Hidayah then claimed RM30,000 was transferred to the account of the accused’s father, Syed Abdul Rahman Abdullah Alsagoff.
When the lawyer asked what the RM30,000 alleged transfer had to do with the initial question of RM20,000, the witness claimed she could not understand the question.
At one point during proceedings, she sought permission from the court to “rehat dahulu” (take a break).
However, Azhar directed her to first answer the question from Gobind.
When the lawyer asked her whether the purported RM30,000 was part of the funds raised from the fundraising activities, she said she did not understand the question.
At this juncture, Azhar said they were getting nowhere and directed proceedings to break for lunch and to resume at 2.30pm.
Alleged misuse of party funds
Earlier today, Nurul Hidayah testified the RM120,000 was transferred from the bank account of Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE) to Syed Saddiq’s personal bank account.
She said the transfer was done in four tranches of RM30,000 each between April 8 and 21, 2018.
The court previously heard testimony that ABBE was an entity established to gather funds for Bersatu Youth’s political programmes.
Armada is the name of Bersatu’s youth wing. Syed Saddiq was the youth wing’s chief until 2020.
Nurul Hidayah alleged that during her investigation into the alleged misappropriation of Bersatu Youth’s funds, Syed Saddiq could not produce any receipts to substantiate his claim that the funds were spent on political campaigning.
When proceedings resume this afternoon, Gobind will continue his cross-examination of Nurul Hidayah.
The accused, who, after his stint with Bersatu Youth went on to be a co-founder of the youth-based political party Muda, is on trial over four charges.
Later in the afternoon today, Nurul Hidayah reiterated her testimony on the RM120,000 purportedly not being used for political campaigning.
She maintained this same answer for many different questions put forward by Gobind.
This included questions by the lawyer on whether she checked with the Election Commission (EC) regarding the campaign expenditure filing made by Syed Saddiq as an election candidate.
In Malaysia, following an election, all candidates for parliamentary and state assembly seats must file with the EC their total expenditure incurred from campaigning.
It got to the point that Azhar reminded her to hear the defence lawyer’s question first before answering, remarking that she had a tendency of answering what she wanted and not what the question actually sought.
The court allowed Gobind’s application to expunge the portion of Nurul Hidayah’s testimony regarding the alleged transfer of RM30,000 to Syed Saddiq’s father.
This followed a revelation during proceedings that the alleged transfer was for a different investigation and not linked to her role as investigation officer in the alleged misappropriation of RM120,000.
Proceedings before Azhar will resume on Aug 3.
Saddiq’s four charges
On one of the four charges, for criminal breach of trust (CBT), Syed Saddiq, 29, in his capacity as then Bersatu Youth chief entrusted with party funds, allegedly committed the offence by withdrawing RM1 million via a CIMB Bank Berhad cheque without the permission of the party’s supreme council.
The former youth and sports minister was purported to have committed the offence at CIMB Bank Berhad, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2, Kuala Lumpur, on March 6, 2020.
The CBT charge is framed under Section 405 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 406 of the same law, which provides a jail term of up to 10 years, with whipping and a fine as well, upon conviction.
Syed Saddiq was also charged with misusing RM120,000 in contributions for the 14th general election campaign raised through a Maybank Islamic Berhad account belonging to ABBE at Maybank Islamic Berhad, Jalan Pandan 3/6A, Taman Pandan Jaya, between April 8 and 21, 2018.
He may be imprisoned for up to five years, with whipping, and a fine as well if found guilty of the offence framed under Section 403 of the Penal Code.
He was also charged with two counts of money laundering, namely two transactions of RM50,000, alleged to be proceeds of unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Berhad account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account at a bank in Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru, on June 16 and June 19, 2018.
These charges fall under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, which are punishable under Section 4(1) of the same act, providing maximum imprisonment of 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount, or the proceeds of the illegal activities. - Mkini
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