Cover image via Mohd Fadli Hamzah/New Straits Times
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Muar member of parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has been acquitted of all corruption charges today, 25 June
According to the New Straits Times, the three-judge Court of Appeal panel led by Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim allowed the former youth and sports minister's appeal, setting aside his conviction, seven-year prison sentence, RM10 million fine, and two strokes of the cane.
Other members of the bench were Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin.
In 2021, Syed Saddiq was charged with conspiring with Bersatu youth wing's former assistant treasurer, Rafiq Hakim Razali, to commit criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving RM1 million of the organisation's funds
Syed Saddiq, who was then Bersatu youth chief, was also charged with misusing RM120,000 from a bank account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise for personal gain, causing Rafiq to dispose of the money.
He was also convicted of two counts of money laundering involving two transactions of RM50,000 each, believed to be from unlawful activities.
On 9 November 2023, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found him guilty of four charges of CBT, fund misappropriation, and money laundering.
When reading the unanimous decision at the Court of Appeal today, Noorin said the lower court had erred when it failed to properly evaluate the evidence and legal elements required to prove the charges against Syed Saddiq
"The act of telling, instructing, or ordering someone to withdraw money cannot be considered as disposal of the money.
"The act of withdrawing the money itself does not satisfy the element of actus reus (the physical act of a crime)," she said, as quoted by the New Straits Times.
