MACC man denies prosecution delayed to 'put pressure' on Syed Saddiq

The Kuala Lumpur High Court was yesterday told that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) did not deliberately delay the prosecution of Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman for almost six months to put pressure on the Muar MP to support a certain leadership.

MACC investigating officer Mohd Syahmeizy Sulong, 37, said MACC's move to prosecute Syed Saddiq in court took place on July 22, 2021 although the consent to prosecute was issued on Jan 4 the same year because it needed to complete the investigation against the politician.

"There were five investigation papers opened against Syed Saddiq and all the evidence regarding the investigation papers needed to be coordinated to ensure that there was no overlapping evidence.

"Prosecution could not be done on Jan 4, 2021, because only one of the five investigation papers had been successfully completed at the time, and it could only be done on July 22, 2021, after all the investigation papers had been completed," he said during cross-examination by lawyer Gobind Singh Deo at the trial of Syed Saddiq, who is facing four charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering.

When asked by the lawyer who ordered him to "hold" the prosecution against Syed Saddiq, the 25th prosecution witness replied: "No one instructed me (to do so)."
 
The MACC senior superintendent also said he had never contacted Syed Saddiq to inform the latter to get ready to go to court over the charges he faced.

Gobind: I suggest in this case that the officer who often contacted Syed Saddiq to inform him that he should get ready to be accused in court was Tuan Ihsan (MACC senior official Mohd Ihsan Sapuan)?

Syahmeizy: I don't know.

Gobind: Tuan Ihsan contacted Syed Saddiq about four times to inform him to get ready to be accused, but then he was not accused.

Syahmeizy: I don't know.

The witness also disagreed with the lawyer that the action of the MACC officer was to put pressure on Syed Saddiq, and that the politician was finally arrested on July 13, 2021, with the order for him to be brought to court issued by Putrajaya MACC investigative branch B chief, Abdul Malik.

Syed Saddiq, 29, was charged as the then Bersatu youth chief, entrusted with the control of Armada funds, with abetting then assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali with CBT 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.