Justice Abu Bakar Jais, leading a three-member bench hearing the prosecution’s appeal to reinstate Syed Saddiq’s conviction, gave both sides a seven-day “cooling-off period” to reconsider their positions.
“Both parties, go back and reflect on your position. Do you still believe the appeal needs to be decided by the court?” he asked after the prosecution completed its reply to submissions from Syed Saddiq’s lead counsel, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik.
Also on the panel were Justices Che Ruzima Ghazali and Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
It remains unclear what prompted Bakar, the Court of Appeal president, to call for the reflection period.
“When I was a deputy public prosecutor in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, what we (members of the prosecution team) did was to have a meeting, and we reviewed everything.
“I hope you go back and discuss if you think you are still able to prove your appeal here. If you think there is not much substance, you tell the court.
“We are not making any decision at the moment. Come back in a week,” he said, adding that the bench was directing its comments to both parties.
Bakar also indicated that the three judges will issue separate judgments if a verdict is eventually delivered.
Speaking outside the court, Hisyam said his team would meet to consider the advice and respond accordingly.
Earlier, he submitted that Syed Saddiq’s instruction to his party colleague to withdraw RM1 million did not constitute the offence of abetment under the Penal Code.
“The act of withdrawing does not come in any of the five limbs of Section 406 of the Penal Code for the offence of criminal breach of trust,” he said.
As such, he said, Syed Saddiq could not be charged and convicted for abetment for ordering then Bersatu Youth assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali to withdraw RM1 million from the youth wing’s bank account.
He said much of the money was used later for Bersatu Youth’s Covid-19, Ramadan, and Aidilfitri programmes in 2020.
On Syed Saddiq allegedly misappropriating RM120,000, Hisyam said the charge did not state who the owner of the money was.
He said the prosecution at the High Court and Court of Appeal took the position the money belonged to the youth wing, but later said it was public donations.
“They cannot be blowing hot and cold,” he said, adding that the defence’s case was that the money belonged to Syed Saddiq as he personally raised it at two public events just before the 2018 general election.
Hisyam said the two money laundering charges hinged on the misappropriation allegation, which was not proven, and that the Court of Appeal was right to state that the trial judge erred in calling for Syed Saddiq’s defence and later convicting him.
“The trial judge did not appreciate the defence story and the Court of Appeal had to intervene to set aside the conviction and sentence by the High Court two years ago,” he said.
Syed Saddiq was charged with abetting Rafiq, who was entrusted with RM1 million in Bersatu Youth’s funds, to commit CBT by misappropriating the funds.
He was also accused of misappropriating RM120,000 from Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise’s Maybank Islamic Bhd account by making Rafiq dispose of the money.
He had also been charged with two counts of money laundering, through transactions of RM50,000 each, believed to be proceeds from unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account in a bank on Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.
On June 25 this year, the Court of Appeal unanimously acquitted Syed Saddiq of abetment to CBT, misappropriation of property, and money laundering of RM1.12 million belonging to Bersatu Youth.
The appeals court quashed the former minister’s sentence of seven years’ imprisonment, two strokes of the cane and a RM10 million fine imposed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2023. - FMT
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