KUALA LUMPUR (July 8): The High Court on Friday (July 8) gave a final warning to all parties concerned against issuing any statements in relation to youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's ongoing criminal trial.
Commenting that the matter was “quite serious”, Judicial Commissioner (JC) Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid issued the warning so everyone could focus on the trial.
“Let this be a final warning to all parties concerned not to make such comments anymore, so that we can move on with the trial without all these side issues,” he said.
JC Azhar also noted that other Criminal Court judges like the High Court's Justices Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah and Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan had also made similar warnings on similar issues.
Syed Saddiq apologises
Earlier on Friday (July 8), Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin informed the court of a police report lodged this morning regarding the former Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) youth chief’s social media post.
In the post, Syed Saddiq, 29, commented on the discrepancies in star witness Rafiq Hakim Razali's testimony.
Wan Sharuddin told the court that it was up to the court to make a finding of fact regarding Rafiq’s credibility, not Syed Saddiq.
“This has happened several times and [he] has been given several warnings but he still comments on the proceedings,” said the DPP, adding that he was contemplating moving contempt proceedings against the young politician.
To this, Syed Saddiq, who was watching from the dock, offered his “humblest apologies” to the court.
Lead defence counsel Gobind Singh Deo also offered his apologies and explained that it was a re-post which has since been deleted.
“It has been deleted after it was pointed out to him. [It was a retweet] so it was not intentional because sometimes tweets in respect of the trial, they retweet. I also told him this is something you cannot be saying. We have taken full notice of it,” he said.
This is the second time this week that the defence team has apologised for making such comments in court. On Monday, they apologised for comments on the ongoing trial made by a lawyer after Wan Shaharuddin applied for the court to issue a reprimand over the public statement.
In January this year, Justice Zaini, the previous presiding judge on the matter, also issued a similar warning to the Muar Member of Parliament and told him to be more careful when posting about the case on social media platforms.
Decision whether to impeach Rafiq on July 18
Earlier on Friday, JC Azhar also heard submissions from both parties on the defence’s application to impeach Rafiq. He then set July 18 to deliver his decision.
During submissions, the defence made the application as the prosecution's 13th witness had made several statements in his oral testimony in court which contradicted his witness statement.
Although the witness statement was provided to the defence, it was not tendered as evidence in court.
The defence, which began cross-examining the witness on Wednesday, has been constantly highlighting contradictions between Rafiq's oral testimony and his witness statement provided to the defence. Rafiq also admitted that his statements were contradictory.
Wan Shaharuddin argued on Friday that Rafiq cannot be impeached because his witness statement was actually not tendered in court, and hence does not carry legal force.
"As an officer of the court, [I am] to advise you not to accept evidence that is not admissible by the court," he said.
Gobind argued that it is the defence's stance that the basis of Rafiq's witness statement — his oral statement given to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) during his detention in 2020 — is enough and should be admissible in court.
He argued that there are no provisions in the law which prevent a defence counsel from asking the witness if he had said something which contradicts what was said in court.
He added that the defence will also make an application for Rafiq's statements made to the MACC.
Syed Saddiq has been charged with abetting Rafiq, the youth wing Angkatan Bersatu Anak Muda’s (Armada) former assistant treasurer, in committing criminal breach of trust involving RM1 million of funds belonging to the party. The offence allegedly took place in March 2020, when Syed Saddiq was chief of the youth wing.
If found guilty of the charge, which is framed under Section 406 of the Penal Code, Syed Saddiq could be jailed for up to 10 years, whipped and fined.
Syed Saddiq has also been charged under Section 403 with misusing RM120,000 in party contributions raised through a Maybank Islamic Bhd account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise between April 8 and 21, 2018. If convicted for this, he could be jailed up to five years, whipped and fined.
In addition, he faces two charges of engaging in money laundering activities involving two transactions of RM50,000 each — money that is believed to be proceeds of unlawful activities — via his Maybank Islamic account and his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account, on June 16 and 19, 2018.
The latter two charges were framed under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, which are punishable under Section 4(1) of the same act with a maximum jail term of 15 years, and a fine of not less than five times the amount involved.
The trial continues on July 18.