KUALA LUMPUR: Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman wasted no time this morning in telling the High Court that all funds raised to pay for his political campaign leading to the 14th General Election (GE14) have been the fruits of his and his teams' efforts.
The 30-year-old Muar member of parliament (MP), in reading out his written statement under oath and from the dock today, recalled his journey as one of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) founders and the party's youth wing (Armada) chief between 2017 and 2020.
He told High Court judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid that he recalled Armada had only thrown three fundraising programmes to help the wings' political journey during his tenure as its chief.
He said that he knew about Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise's (ABBE) Maybank bank account, which was not the wing's official bank account as it was used to collect donations raised through souvenir sales.
"However, I do not have access to this account. Only Rafiq Hakim (the Bersatu treasurer at that time) has control of this account since it was registered under his name."
He said he had also gathered his friends, who are referred to as 'Team Saddiq' to help him smoothen out his service as the Muar MP, including helping his personal campaign for the constituents' parliamentary seat.
Soon after, Syed Saddiq brought the court into the important elements of his charges, which is the two fundraisings held in Muar and Ampang, here, in 2018, that had raised RM120,000.
"The event is to raise funds to cover my own election expenses as the Muar parliament candidate in GE14. Team Saddiq and I organised these two programmes.
"Both proceeds from the fundraising events are to cover my own election expenses in Muar, which does not involve Bersatu or Armada. Even the Armada logo is not included in the event posters.
"In fact, my social media postings on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram have made it clear that the fundraising is for my own political campaign," he said.
He also confirmed that the ABBE account was used for his own GE14 campaign, after discussing with his team about the most suitable account to be used for the purpose.
Initially, he said, he suggested for his personal bank account be used, to channel all the funds raised.
"But Team Saddiq discussed and decided that it would be better if a business bank account is used.
"They proposed to create a new bank account under 'Saddiq Resources', but it will take some time to be set up.
"I then asked Amshar (one of Team Saddiq's members) to refer to Rafiq for advice, which Amshar reverted to me and said Rafiq had suggested using ABBE's bank account instead."
However, he said, there was no profit raised from the two events as it returned less than he had spent on, which he had advanced his own savings to pay the workers who had helped out throughout the events.
After the event, he said, he had instructed Rafiq to transfer the proceeds to his bank accounts, after the latter informed him of a total of RM120,000 raised.
"Throughout my campaign, I've had no less than RM171,675 as my savings, in which I've used all the funds for my GE14 campaign. Therefore, the RM120,000 is counted as the money raised through the two events.
"Since both fundraising programmes are for my own campaign, all proceeds belong to me and not Bersatu nor Armada.
"Therefore, the RM120,000 in my account has become my own personal money because the funds raised from the two programmes were reimbursed for my savings, which I've advanced for campaign expenses.
"I am, with a pure and sincere heart, believe at all times that I have the right to determine the way of how the funds should be spent."
He also confirmed that the monies reimbursed were transferred back into his Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB) accounts, with two transactions of RM50,000.
Syed Saddiq, 30, was charged with one count of abetting Bersatu's treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali with criminal breach of trust involving RM1 million of the organisation's funds.
The court also ordered him to enter defence against one charge of 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 and two counts of engaging in money laundering, 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.