KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman was charged in the Sessions Court here today with criminal breach of trust (CBT) of funds belonging to a political party amounting to RM1 million and misusing RM120,000 in donations for the 14th General Election (GE14).
However, Syed Saddiq, 29, who is a former Youth and Sports Minister, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which were read out separately, before judge Azura Alwi.
On the CBT charge,Syed Saddiq was charged in his capacity as then Angkatan Bersatu Anak Muda or Armada, the youth wing of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), chief, who was entrusted with the Armada’s fund, to have committed the offence by withdrawing RM1 million from the fund via a CIMB Bank Berhad cheque without the permission of the party’s (Bersatu) Supreme Council.
He was alleged to have committed the offence at CIMB Bank Berhad, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2, here on March 6, 2020.
The charge, framed under Section 405 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 406 of the same law, provides an imprisonment for up to 10 years with whipping and is liable to a fine, if found guilty.
Syed Saddiq was also charged with misusing RM120,000 in contributions for the GE14 campaign raised through a Maybank Islamic Berhad account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise.
The offence was allegedly committed at Maybank Islamic Berhad,Jalan Pandan 3/6A, Taman Pandan Jaya between April 8 and 21, 2018.
He faced an imprisonment for up to five years with whipping and is liable to fine, if found guilty of the offence, which is framed under Section 403 of the Penal Code.
The prosecution was conducted by Senior director at the Legal and Prosecution Division of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Datuk Faridz Gohim Abdullah and deputy public prosecutors Muhammad Asraf Mohamed Tahir and Mohd ‘Afif Ali.
Lawyers Gobind Singh Deo, Datuk S. Ambiga and Haijan Omar represented Syed Saddiq.
Sources: BERNAMA