July 25 decision on Syed Saddiq’s leave bid to impeach witness

 

Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman will know on Monday next week whether he gets leave to proceed with his bid to impeach a key prosecution witness.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today fixed July 25 to deliver its decision on whether to grant leave for the former Bersatu youth chief to commence impeachment proceedings against former Bersatu youth treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali.

The impeachment bid was in relation to Rafiq’s alleged contradictory testimony in the misappropriation case against Syed Saddiq (above) involving RM1.2 million of Bersatu youth’s funds.

Trial judicial commissioner Azhar Abdul Hamid said the matter involved multiple issues that require time for the court to look into before making a decision.

In the event that the court grants leave on Monday, it would later set a separate date to hear the merits of the impeachment bid against Rafiq, by perusing the statement that the witness gave to MACC in the course of the antigraft commission’s investigation.

Today is the second bid for leave to commence impeachment, with the same court last Monday denying the first application for leave.

The present impeachment bid involves contention by Syed Saddiq’s defence team that there was material contradiction between what Rafiq said in court compared to what the witness told the MACC when the antigraft agency was investigating the case.

‘Inconsistent testimony’

Among the purported contradictions were in relation to Rafiq’s court testimony regarding Syed Saddiq’s alleged order for him to withdraw RM1 million from Bersatu youth’s account.

Among the alleged inconsistencies was the location where Syed Saddiq was purported to have issued the order to the witness.

Another purported contradiction was on whether the funds withdrawn were ever really Bersatu youth’s funds or was Syed Saddiq’s personal money.

Back on July 5, Rafiq testified that Syed Saddiq ordered him to “clear” part of the RM1 million of Bersatu Youth funds, following the MACC probe into the accused’s report over an alleged missing RM250,000.

However, a day later, while under cross-examination by Syed Saddiq’s legal team, the witness admitted the word “clear-kan” was not the exact word used by the accused in relation to the RM1 million.

In March 2020, it was reported that Syed Saddiq lodged a police report over the RM250,000 that allegedly went missing from his house in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

The accused is on trial over four charges.

On one of the four charges, namely 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.

He 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 Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (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.