KUALA LUMPUR: Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman says he is looking forward to clearing his name after the High Court here ordered him to enter his defence on four criminal charges today.
“I will tell my side of the story so that justice can win,” he told a press conference after the court ruling.
Counsel Gobind Singh Deo said Syed Saddiq will testify from the witness box.
The former Muar MP also hinted that he could be defending his parliamentary seat, saying he will leave it to voters to decide on his fate in the Nov 19 general election.
“Above and beyond that, I will bring this matter up to my party as I am a party man and principles come first in politics,” he said.
The former youth and sports minister maintained that today’s ruling will not dampen his spirit to continue fighting for the people.
Earlier today, justice Azhar Abdul Hamid ordered him to enter his defence on charges of abetting in criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of assets and money laundering.
The court has fixed Feb 22 to 24, March 13 and 14 and April 10 to 14 for the defence to conduct its case.
Fifteen defence witnesses are expected to take the stand.
Syed Saddiq, 29, is charged with abetting the Bersatu youth wing’s former assistant treasurer, Rafiq Hakim, in the commission of CBT of RM1 million at CIMB Bank Bhd on Jalan Stesen Sentral 2 here on March 6, 2020.
As the then Bersatu Youth chief, Syed Saddiq was entrusted with control of its funds.
He is also charged with misusing RM120,000 from the bank account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise for himself by causing Rafiq to dispose of the money at Malayan Banking Bhd at Taman Pandan Jaya here between April 8 and April 21, 2018.
He faces another two counts of money laundering involving two transactions of RM50,000 each, believed to be proceeds from unlawful activities, transferred from his Maybank Islamic Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account at a bank in Taman Perling, Johor Bahru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.
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