Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo said the RM1 million was withdrawn from Armada’s account on March 6, 2020 to assist those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the sudden lockdown imposed by the government as a measure to contain the spread of the virus.
“The RM1 million was not under the direct control of the accused (Syed Saddiq) and he did not receive a single sen from the amount,” he said at the close of Syed Saddiq’s defence case.
The Muda president is standing trial on four counts of CBT and money laundering.
He is alleged to have misappropriated a total of RM1.12 million belonging to Bersatu.
From that amount, RM120,000 was said to be party funds for the 2018 general election, while the remaining RM1 million was allegedly withdrawn by him without the top leadership’s consent.
He also pleaded not guilty to two charges of money laundering involving a total of RM100,000.
Gobind told the court both Syed Saddiq and former Bersatu Youth wing assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali had acted in the best interest of the party to assist the people who needed help during the pandemic.
“The prosecution cannot say that he (Syed Saddiq) abetted Rafiq in misappropriating the RM1 million.
“Their version was that he instructed Rafiq to withdraw the money without any proposal being made to Bersatu for the withdrawal.
“In fact, Rafiq testified that there was no need for any proposal to be tabled if the money was needed for ’emergency use’, which in this case was the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
The court also previously heard that Rafiq and Ahmad Redzuan Shafi, the then Bersatu Youth assistant secretary, went to the CIMB KL Sentral branch on March 6, 2020 to withdraw RM1 million from the youth wing’s account.
Rafiq said the withdrawal was done on Syed Saddiq’s instructions.
As for the charge of allegedly misappropriating RM120,000 from an entity linked to Armada, Gobind told the court the money was a “reimbursement” to Syed Saddiq.
The lawyer said Syed Saddiq had spent his own money to fund his 2018 general election campaign for Muar, and that he held fundraising events to collect the money.
The hearing before Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid continues tomorrow, when deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin will reply to the defence.