Malaysian lawmaker Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman walked free on Monday after the Federal Court dismissed the prosecutors’ final appeal in his corruption case, ending a six-year legal battle that had threatened to derail the future of one of the country’s most recognisable young politicians.
The decision was reached by a 2-1 majority, with Federal Court judges Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Collin Lawrence Sequerah upholding last year’s acquittal of the former youth minister on four charges linked to funds belonging to Armada, the youth wing of former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Bersatu party.
Court of Appeal president Abu Bakar Jais, who chaired the panel, dissented and would have convicted Syed Saddiq on three of the four charges: the alleged misappropriation of 120,000 ringgit (US$29,400) and two subsequent money laundering transactions.
Delivering the outcome, Abu Bakar said the majority had found “no appealable error” in the Court of Appeal’s decision, making his proposed convictions and sentences immaterial.
In his majority judgment, Ruzima said the prosecution had failed to establish the principal offence of criminal breach of trust involving the withdrawal of 1 million ringgit from Armada’s account.