PUTRAJAYA (Nov 12): Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman on Tuesday obtained a temporary release of his passport to go to Indonesia to attend a three-day forum later this week.
A three-member Court of Appeal bench led by Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali allowed the application by the young politician.
Sitting with Che Ruzima were Datuk Azmi Arifin and Datuk Azman Abdullah.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Afif Ali appeared for the prosecution, while Kee Wai Loon appeared for Syed Saddiq.
This is the third application by the politician for a release of his passport after the 31-year-old was sentenced to seven years’ jail and fined RM10 million and two strokes of the rotan by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 9, 2023, after being found guilty on four charges of criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of funds, and money laundering.
The former youth and sports minister is appealing against the conviction and sentence.
Prior to this, he had obtained a temporary release of his passport to go for a trip to Singapore and Taiwan, and then again for a trip to Bangkok, Thailand.
He was found guilty of abetting, with former Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia youth Armada assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali, who was entrusted with RM1 million of Armada’s funds, to commit criminal breach of trust by misappropriating the funds.
The offence was allegedly committed at CIMB Bank Bhd, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2, here, on March 6, 2020.
For the second charge, Syed Saddiq was accused of misappropriating RM120,000 from Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise’s Maybank Islamic Bhd account by making Rafiq dispose of the money.
Syed Saddiq was also charged with two counts of laundering money via transactions of RM50,000 each, believed to be proceeds from unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account at a bank in Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.