7 years’ jail, whipping for
Syed Saddiq not excessive,
says judge
In his grounds of judgment, Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid says the court took into account the Muar MP’s status as a public figure and a role model for young people.
Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid said the court took into account Syed Saddiq’s status as a public figure and a role model for young people before delivering the sentence.
Syed Saddiq was also slapped with a RM10 million fine.
He has lodged an appeal against the sentence with the Court of Appeal, which has fixed Jan 16 for case management.
“The accused (Syed Saddiq) should be held to a higher standard and to serve as a role model for young people.
“As this is his first offence, he still has ample time to rectify his wrongs and reflect on what has happened,” Azhar said in his 22-page grounds of judgment.
On Nov 9 last year, Syed Saddiq, a former Bersatu Youth chief, was found guilty of one charge of CBT involving more than RM1 million belonging to the wing, as well as another count of dishonest misappropriation of property totalling more than RM120,000 also belonging to Bersatu Youth.
He was also convicted on two counts of money laundering for transferring a total of RM100,000 to his personal account from a company, Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE), linked to Bersatu Youth.
For the CBT and dishonest misappropriation charges, the court imposed a three- and two-year jail sentence, respectively.
He was slapped with a two-year sentence on each of the money laundering charges.
However, Syed Saddiq only needs to serve five years as the sentences are to run concurrently.
In finding Syed Saddiq guilty of CBT, Azhar said the Muar MP instructed two party members to withdraw the RM1 million without consent from the Bersatu top leadership.
“The action of hiding the money at the youth wing’s office raised an inference of bad faith on his part,” he said.
On the dishonest misappropriation of property of RM120,000, which is said to be funds from an election fundraising event, the court held that the action of transferring the sum into his account was a breach of the law.
“There was no need for him to transfer the money. Any payment can be made to or through ABBE’s account.
“The court finds that the accused had intentions to misuse the money,” Azhar said.
He said the court cannot accept Syed Saddiq’s defence that he never instructed the members to withdraw the RM1 million, and denied knowledge about it.
“It is unreasonable for him (as a former youth chief) to say he does not know a large sum of money was withdrawn.
“For the dishonest misappropriation of property and money laundering charges, the accused said the money from fundraising was to reimburse what he had spent previously.
“But no evidence was represented to back up his defence,” he said.
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