MUAR MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman returns to court today for the final stage of his corruption case, as federal prosecutors make a last attempt to reinstate his previous conviction and sentence.
The prosecution, led by Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, will argue why the country’s highest court should restore the seven-year prison term, RM10 million fine and two strokes of the cane ordered by the High Court before the decision was set aside.
The Court of Appeal on 25 June quashed the conviction, ruling that the lower court had erred by failing to properly assess evidence and the legal elements required to prove the charges.
The apex court has allotted two days, beginning today and continuing tomorrow, to hear the prosecution’s full appeal.
The panel is expected either to deliver its decision at the close of proceedings or to set another date for judgment.
In its petition of appeal, the prosecution contends that the Court of Appeal misdirected itself in law and in fact when it claimed that prosecutors and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had pressured former BERSATU Assistant Treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali into giving testimony that “satisfied” the MACC and was tailored for the prosecution.
Wan Shaharuddin argues that the appellate court erred in its assessment of the prosecution’s case by accepting the impression that the MACC and prosecutors had manipulated Rafiq’s evidence, leading to his testimony being rejected.
He also asserts that the Court of Appeal failed to consider that Syed Saddiq’s defence was, in its entirety, nothing more than an afterthought and a bare denial.
Syed Saddiq was first charged on 22 July 2021. At the time, he was BERSATU Youth Chief entrusted with overseeing the wing’s funds.
He was accused of abetting Rafiq Hakim in committing criminal breach of trust involving RM1 million belonging to the party’s youth wing, Armada.
He was separately charged with misusing property for personal benefit—namely RM120,000 from a Maybank Islamic account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise—by causing Rafiq to manage the disposal of the funds.
He also faces two charges of money laundering, involving two transfers of RM50,000 each from his Maybank Islamic account to his own Amanah Saham Bumiputera account, which prosecutors say were proceeds of unlawful activity.
The case now stands at a critical juncture, with the ultimate outcome resting in the hands of Malaysia’s highest judicial panel. - December 11, 2025
