High Court to scrutinise witness’ testimonies before impeachment decision in Syed Saddiq trial

KUALA LUMPUR. July 25 — Prosecutors in Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's corruption trial have been ordered to provide the High Court with the written statement of their star witness Rafiq Hakim Razali after the defence sought to impeach the latter.

Judicial Commissioner Azhar Abdul Hamid said he wants Rafiq’s written statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) before the end of today's proceedings so the court can schedule the next trial dates for Syed Saddiq’s case.

“After careful consideration, I believe the defence has proven contradictions in the witness' oral and written statements. The prosecution also had agreed that these contradictions exist.

“Therefore I ask the prosecution to give the court a copy of the witness statement for scrutiny and to fix the next dates of trial,” Azhar said this morning.

Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin Azhar then asked if Azhar wanted the statement handed over personally with the areas of contradictions highlighted.

Syed Saddiq defence counsel Gobind Singh Deo had earlier asked the court to examine the entirety of Rafiq’s written statement as recorded by the MACC arguing that there were several portions that seemed to contradict the prosecution witness’s oral testimony in court.

This is the second time that the defence is asking to impeach Rafiq.

The defence had tried to impeach Rafiq once but was turned down previously.

On July 7, the defence sought to impeach Rafiq because his oral testimony in court differed from his written statement which was prepared by an MACC official.

At that time, Azhar said the court could not impeach the former Bersatu assistant treasurer based on a single document.

Rafiq is the prosecution’s main in this trial in which Syed Saddiq is accused of abetting the former to withdraw RM1 million in funds belonging to the Bersatu Youth wing.

The Muar MP is alleged to have committed the offence at CIMB Bank Bhd, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2, here on March 6, 2020.

He is also charged with misusing property for himself, namely RM120,000 from the Maybank Islamic Bhd account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise by causing Rafiq to dispose of the money at Malayan Banking Berhad, Jalan Pandan 3/6A, Taman Pandan Jaya here between April 8 and 21, 2018.

Syed Saddiq also faces two counts of engaging in money laundering activities, namely two transactions of RM50,000, believed to be proceeds of unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account, on June 16 and 19, 2018.

Rafiq previously testified that he was told by Syed Saddiq to withdraw the money from the bank as the money belonged to him from his efforts to raise funds for campaigning in his Muar constituency.

But Gobind claimed Rafiq was being coached by the deputy public prosecutor and MACC officers on what to say in the trial so he would implicate Syed Saddiq.