Syed Saddiq gets temporary release of passport for Switzerland, South Korea trips

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today allowed the temporary release of Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's passport to enable him to attend two international conferences in Switzerland and South Korea next month.

Judge Azhar Abdul Hamid allowed the passport to be returned after hearing the submissions by lawyer Lim Wei Jiet, representing the Muar MP, 30, and deputy public prosecutor Mohd 'Afif Ali.

Azhar ordered the Muda president to return his passport to the court on May 20.

Earlier, Lim told the court that the prosecution did not object to his client's application, which was confirmed by 'Afif.

Based on the affidavit, Syed Saddiq applied for the temporary release of his passport to go to Switzerland on May 1 to attend an international drug policy conference and return to Malaysia on May 6.

On May 15, he is to go to South Korea to speak at the 2023 Asian Leadership Conference organised by the Center for Asia Leadership and is scheduled to return on May 19.

According to Syed Saddiq, he needed the passport early as he has to apply for a visa to visit the two countries, which would take time.

On Oct 28 last year, Syed Saddiq was ordered to enter his defence on four charges of abetting in criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of property, and money laundering after the prosecution was able to prove a prima facie case against him at the end of its case.

The former youth and sports minister testified in his defence for two days from Feb 22 this year, and five other individuals also gave evidence as defence witnesses, including former Bersatu Youth information chief Ulya Aqamah Husamudin and Syed Saddiq's former special officer Mohamed Amshar Aziz and former private secretary Siti Nurul Hidayah.

Azhar will deliver his judgment on a date yet to be fixed. 

Syed Saddiq is charged 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 in Menara CIMB KL Sentral on March 6, 2020.

The Johor Bahru-born Syed Saddiq is also charged with misappropriating RM120,000 from the bank account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise by causing Rafiq Hakim to dispose of the money at Malayan Banking Bhd in Taman Pandan Jaya between April 8 and 21, 2018.

He also faces 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.