KUALA LUMPUR – Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has been granted temporary release of his passport for travel to Singapore and Taiwan, and must return the document to the court on June 18.
The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya allowed him the release of his international passport for the purpose of attending a wedding in Singapore and a working visit to Taiwan, Bernama reports.
The wedding in Singapore is on this Saturday, and involves the daughter of Syed Saddiq’s close friend, his lawyer Datuk Hisyam Teh was reported telling the court.
The working visit to Taiwan from June 10 until 15 is at the invitation of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office In Malaysia.
Syed Saddiq’s application received no objections from deputy public prosecutor Afif Ali.
The appellate court’s three-person bench then ordered that the former Muda president return the passport on June 18.
The bench today was led by justice Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who sat with judges Datuk Azmi Ariffin and Zaini Mazlan.
Hisyam today also asked the court to prepare and issue a letter today to the Immigration director-general to enable his client to travel overseas, to which the bench agreed.
On November 9 last year, Syed Saddiq was sentenced to seven years in jail, a RM10 million fine and two strokes of the cane by the Kuala Lumpur High Court after being found guilty of four charges of criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of funds and money laundering.
He subsequently filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal on the same day.
Syed Saddiq, 31, who was youth and sports minister from 2018 to 2020, was charged with abetting former 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 in a bank at Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.
The high court had allowed Syed Saddiq’s application to stay the execution of all sentences pending appeal.
Further case management has been fixed on July 12. – May 15, 2024