PUTRAJAYA (Nov 25): The criminal appeal at the Court of Appeal for Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman is faced with another delay as the record of appeal, which contains the High Court judgement and is needed for the young politician’s defence team to prepare its grounds of appeal, is still not ready more than a year after his conviction.
It is common practice for a court to prepare the appeal record in about eight weeks.
Syed Saddiq was found guilty more than a year ago, on Nov 9, 2023, by High Court judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid.
The judge found the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) co-founder guilty of all four charges involving misappropriation of more than RM1 million belonging to Armada, the youth wing of his former party, Bersatu.
The court then sentenced Syed Saddiq to a total of seven years in prison, two strokes of the cane, and a fine of RM10 million.
An appeal was filed on the same day against the conviction and sentence. However, the record is needed in order for the defence to file its grounds of appeal.
Previously on Sept 20, the case management had been pushed to Monday as the appeal record was not yet ready.
But during a case management at the Court of Appeal on Monday, the court was informed that the appeal record and full High Court judgement were still not ready.
As a result of the delay, the appellate court set Jan 16, 2025 for another case management to be updated on the matter.
In criminal appeals, the court registry prepares and delivers to parties the appeal records, which contain the notes of evidence, exhibits, and grounds of judgement.
In this case, a stay of execution of the High Court's decision was granted, pending the disposal of Syed Saddiq's appeal. He also remains the Muar MP until his appeal process is exhausted.
He stepped down as the president of Muda following the High Court’s verdict.