KUALA LUMPUR – Being tried for corruption, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman told the court that he is a victim of revenge politics.
Standing before high court judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid, the former youth and sports minister claimed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) handling of the probe against him showed that it was politically motivated.
In his witness statement, Syed Saddiq alleged that testimonies from witnesses who favoured him were hidden by the prosecutors.
He claimed that the agency also threatened witnesses for the trial, including former Armada assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali, as well as Siti Nurul Hidayah and Abdul Hannaan Khairy.
Several conversations between him and a MACC officer known as Ihsan were also offered as evidence.
Ihsan was supposedly the officer who led the raid at Syed Saddiq’s home, served him with a notice to testify at the MACC headquarters and interrogated him there, apart from communicating with him throughout the investigation.
A transcript of an audio recording allegedly showed Ihsan telling Syed Saddiq that former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin still cared for the former Bersatu Youth leader.
Ihsan was supposedly trying to persuade the 30-year-old to support Muhyiddin as the latter had brought him into Bersatu.
In the transcript, Ihsan lamented how MACC officers have become “tools” when there is a change of government.
Asked by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin about the authenticity of the recording, the Muda president claimed that he is one of two people who could verify it.
“I can verify (the recording), even another MACC official known as Adib can give certainty regarding the matter,” he said.
Syed Saddiq had pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, claiming that the RM120,000 funds from the Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE) bank account were his own money collected from fundraising events during the campaign period for the 14th general election.
He denied abetting Rafiq to commit a criminal breach of trust by withdrawing RM1 million from the party’s bank account – he said they merely discussed security measures for the party’s funds after an alleged robbery. – The Vibes, February 22, 2023
