Syed Saddiq apologises in court for social media post on trial

Former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who faces four charges of criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of funds and money laundering, today apologised in the Kuala Lumpur High Court for commenting on the ongoing trial on his social media.

Syed Saddiq made the apology after receiving a final warning by judicial commissioner Azhar Abdul Hamid.
 
"I offer my humblest apologies," he said.

Azhar gave the warning after deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the court that a police report had been lodged against the Muar MP for reposting a post made by his friend, Ahmad Zarul Afiq, regarding the trial proceedings and the credibility of the 13th prosecution witness, Rafiq Hakim Razali, who is former assistant treasurer of the Bersatu Youth wing or Armada.

Syed Saddiq's lawyer Gobind Singh Deo meanwhile told the court that his client had deleted the post.
 
"I told him (Syed Saddiq) this is something that you cannot be saying and asked him to be careful next time. He has already deleted his post," Gobind said.

This is the second apology made by the defence team on the same matter within a week.

On July 4, another lawyer representing Syed Saddiq, Haijan Omar, apologised to the court after one of the politician’s lawyers, Lim Wei Jit, made a public statement on the case.

Earlier, on the defence's application to impeach Rafiq Hakim, Wan Shaharuddin said there were preconditions to be met by those who wanted the witness' written statement to be admissible in court, under Section 402B of the Criminal Procedure Code.

"As the written statement was not signed by the witness, the first precondition under Section 402B (2) was not complied with," he said.

Gobind asked the court to use its discretion to allow the defence to begin the proceedings to challenge Rafiq Hakim's credibility as the witness statement was given to the defence before the trial began, even though it was not used in court.

Azhar then set July 18 to deliver his decision.

Syed Saddiq, 29, was charged as the then youth chief, entrusted with the control of Armada funds, with abetting Rafiq Hakim with criminal breach of trust of RM1 million in funds belonging to the wing.

He was also charged with misusing property for himself, namely RM120,000 from the Maybank Islamic account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise by causing Rafiq Hakim to dispose of the money at Malayan Banking, Jalan Pandan 3/6A, Taman Pandan Jaya between April 8 and 21, 2018.

He also faces two counts of engaging in money laundering activities through two transactions of RM50,000, believed to be the proceeds of unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account.

He is accused of committing the offence at a bank at Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru on June 16 and 19, 2018.