Syed Saddiq used own money during GE14 campaigning — Ex-private secretary

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court was told yesterday that Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman used his own money in the 14th General Election (GE14) campaign trail without financial assistance from Angkatan Bersatu Anak Muda (Armada) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).

Syed Saddiq’s former private secretary Siti Nurul Hidayah, 27, said that because Syed Saddiq used his money to promote himself while contesting the Muar parliamentary seat, his team that was tasked to handle his GE14 campaigning had planned to host fundraising events to help the campaign trail.

“Team Saddiq had discussed and planned to hold two fundraising events, the Muo charity dinner in Muar and the Fund-Raising Battle for Johor in Ampang.

“We also discussed the best measures to manage the collection from the events and thought it was inappropriate for YB (Syed Saddiq) to use his personal account to collect funds before deciding to use the Maybank business account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE) for that purpose,” she said.

She said this when reading from her witness statement on the fourth day of Syed Saddiq’s defence proceedings against four charges of abetting criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of assets and money laundering.

The fourth defence witness said Syed Saddiq had spent RM30,000 to cover the costs of the events which was given to her in cash as she was responsible for managing all financial affairs and expenses throughout the GE14 campaigning.

Meanwhile, Siti Nurul Hidayah agreed with Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Asyraf Mohamed Tahir’s suggestion that Syed Saddiq selected her to join Team Saddiq because of their close relationship and that he trusted her.

“My duties as YB’s private secretary were to take his pictures and videos when he was working and upload them on social media, manage his daily schedule besides matters related to his finances, among other things,” she said.

When asked by Muhammad Asyraf if she knew that the money collected from the fundraising events had been transferred from ABBE’s account to Syed Saddiq’s personal account and Amanah Saham Bumiputera’s (ASB) account she said ‘No’.

Siti Nurul Hidayah disagreed with Muhammad Asyraf after he suggested that Syed Saddiq did not tell her about the transactions (into his personal accounts) because it was wrong.

The witness also disagreed with Muhammad Asyraf’s suggestion that she became a witness for the defence team to prevent Syed Saddiq from going to jail.

Meanwhile, Siti Nurul Hidayah said she was threatened by the officers of the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) when she was called up to testify in the investigation against Syed Saddiq in 2020, adding that she lodged a police report and held a press conference in connection with the incident.

Syed Saddiq, 30, is charged as the then Bersatu Youth wing or Armada chief, with abetting Rafiq Hakim who was entrusted with RM1 million in funds belonging to the wing, to commit a criminal breach of trust by misappropriating the funds at CIMB Bank Bhd, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2 here on March 6, 2020.

The Johor Bahru native is also charged with misappropriating RM120,000 from the Maybank Islamic Bhd account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise by causing Rafiq Hakim to dispose of the money at Malayan Banking Bhd, Jalan Pandan 3/6A, Taman Pandan Jaya here between April 8 and 21, 2018.

He also faces two counts of money laundering, namely two transactions of RM50,000 each believed to be proceeds from unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account at a bank in Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Baru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.

The trial before Judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid continues today.