Campaign money not used, Syed Saddiq transfers funds into ASB's personal account
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal was told today that no disbursement of donations collected by the Angkatan Bersatu Anak Muda (Armada) party in two separate programmes in April 2018 were used for the campaign of Muar Member of Parliament, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman in the 14th General Election (GE-14).
Deputy Public Prosecutor, Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan, in her argument, said that Syed Saddiq is believed to have changed his mind by transferring a sum of RM100,000 into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) account after the 14th GE.
"There is no indication of any expenditure that could be said to be expenditure for the election campaign. The day the appellant requested the money, there was no expenditure at all."
"When the campaign was over and the appellant won the election, the money involved was deposited into the ASB account," he said on the third day of the hearing of Syed Saddiq's appeal to set aside his conviction and sentence for breach of trust, misappropriation of property and money laundering.
In the prosecution's submission, Farah Ezlin explained that the accused asked former Assistant Treasurer of the Young Armed Forces (Armada) Rafiq Hakim Razali to make a total transaction of RM120,000 from the Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE) account to the Muar Member of Parliament's personal account.
The action was carried out by Syed Saddiq on April 8, 11 and 21, 2018 before part of the money involved was transferred into his ASB account in June 2018.
"The appellant instructed the Assistant Treasurer of Armada to transfer money from the Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE) account into his personal account on 8, 11 and 21 April 2018.
"All of this was done before the election campaign which began on April 28, 2018. The appellant received RM120,000 for campaign use and all parties in Armada were aware that the money involved was from donations for the election campaign.
"What happened, when the appellant was found to have changed his mind after the money involved was transferred, was never used for the election campaign until 16 to 19 June 2018.
"This was an excessive action by the appellant, he transferred money from his Maybank account to Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB), amounting to RM50,000 per transaction. ASB is for investment purposes," he added.
The appeal hearing proceedings continued with the defence's arguments before a three-judge panel chaired by Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim at the Court of Appeal today.
