KUALA LUMPUR (July 25): The High Court has agreed with the defence of former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's trial that there were discrepancies in the testimony of the prosecution's star witness, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia youth wing's ex-assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali.

In line with that, Judicial Commissioner (JC) Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid on Monday (July 25) ruled that the prosecution must submit his Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) statement to court before it decides whether to grant leave (permission) for the defence to impeach the witness.

"After listening to submissions from both parties, I agree that the defence has shown that there are discrepancies, which the prosecution has also admitted to," he said, adding that the statement has to be given to court before he decides on the next course of action.

This is part of the defence's second leave application to begin impeachment proceedings against Rafiq. Rafiq's MACC statement was recorded during his detention in 2020.

MACC statements are generally considered privileged documents which are not accessible to any parties, including the court.

As for the leave for impeachment, the JC said that he will first peruse the statement before deciding on further action.

When asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin if the court needed help to peruse the statement, JC Azhar said: "Let me go through the statement then I will decide whether to go through [with] the impeachment or not."

To impeach a witness is to discredit the accuracy or truth of their testimony.

Leave (permission) has to be granted before impeachment proceedings can commence.

The defence is looking to impeach Rafiq based on his contradictory testimony given in court. The prosecution's 13th witness also admitted to the contradiction when it was pointed out during cross-examination earlier this month.

Among the discrepancies in his testimony, the witness said the Muar member of parliament (MP) had asked him to withdraw RM1 million during a meeting at his home. But in his statement, he said the instructions to withdraw the money were given through a WhatsApp call.

The defence contended that these discrepancies were not "minor", but instead went to the heart of the charges that the MP faces in this trial.

The prosecution, however, maintained that there was no reason to commence impeachment proceedings because the witness himself admitted to the contradiction.

Rafiq is a central witness to the charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and misappropriation of the RM1.12 million of funds belonging to the party that Syed Saddiq faces in this trial.

For the first count, Syed Saddiq is charged with abetting Rafiq in committing CBT involving RM1 million of funds belonging to the party in March 2020.

As for the second charge, the MP is charged under Section 403 of the Penal Code with misusing RM120,000 in party contributions, raised through a Maybank Islamic Bhd account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE) in April 2018.

ABBE is a company set up to generate income for the party's wing through merchandise sales. Rafiq is its sole account holder.

This is the defence's second attempt to impeach Rafiq.

Last week, the court ruled against the defence's application to impeach the prosecution's witness based on contradiction between his oral testimony and his prepared written statement.

Although his witness statement had been given to the defence, it was not used in court during Rafiq's testimony, nor was it submitted as evidence. He gave oral evidence instead.

Azhar ruled that the witness could not be impeached based on the written statement because it was never tendered in court and therefore did not meet the criteria of a witness statement defined under the Criminal Procedural Code.

If found guilty of the CBT charge, which is framed under Section 406 of the Penal Code, Syed Saddiq could be jailed for up to 10 years, whipped and fined.

As for the misappropriation charge, he could be jailed up to five years, whipped and fined if convicted.

In addition, he faces two charges of engaging in money laundering activities involving two transactions of RM50,000 each — money 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.

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