PUTRAJAYA, Jan 13 — Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman was today granted temporary access to his passport by the Court of Appeal to allow him to travel to Singapore and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Syed Saddiq’s counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, made the application before the court panel today.
The three-judge panel comprising Justices Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali, Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin allowed the application after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Asraf Mohamed Tahir did not object to it.
In his application, Syed Saddiq, 32, stated that he has to attend a Symposium titled “Youth and Civic Engagement” in Singapore on Jan 21 and on Jan 22 to attend the wedding of a close friend in Kota Kinabalu.
He said he would return to Kuala Lumpur on Jan 25 and would return the passport to the court on Jan 27.
Syed Saddiq’s legal team also includes lawyers Low Wei Loke and Jonas Ee.
On Nov 9, 2023, Syed Saddiq was sentenced to seven years in jail and fined RM10 million and two strokes of the cane by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur after being found guilty of four charges of criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of funds and money laundering. He subsequently filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal on the same day.
The former Youth and Sports Minister was charged with abetting former Armada assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali, who was entrusted with RM1 million of Armada’s funds, to commit a criminal breach of trust by misappropriating the funds.
The offence was allegedly committed at CIMB Bank Bhd, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2 on March 6, 2020.
For the second charge, he was accused of misappropriating RM120,000 from Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise’s Maybank Islamic Bhd account by making Rafiq dispose of the money.
Syed Saddiq was also charged with two counts of laundering money 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 in a bank at Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Baru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.
The High Court had allowed Syed Saddiq’s application for a stay of execution of all sentences pending appeal. The Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear his appeal on March 19 and 20. — Bernama
