“I want to clear my name through the legal process as I deeply respect the integrity of the court,” he told FMT.
The former youth and sports minister, however, said the appeal cannot be heard yet as the High Court in Kuala Lumpur has not issued its written judgment to justify his conviction and sentence.
“I understand a fifth case management will be held in the Court of Appeal on Sept 20,” he said.
Meanwhile, lawyer Beston Tan, from the legal firm that acts as Syed Saddiq’s solicitors, said the firm had on March 18 written to Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid to obtain the grounds of judgment, but has not received a response.
A court practice direction states that a trial judge must provide the written judgment within eight weeks of an appellant filing his notice of appeal.
Lawyer G Subramaniam Nair said a criminal appeal cannot proceed without the written grounds.
“The appellant can only file his petition of appeal to state where the trial judge had erred in fact and law after obtaining the grounds of judgment,” he said.
On Nov 9, Syed Saddiq was sentenced to a total of seven years in prison and fined RM10 million after being convicted of abetting criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriating assets and money laundering.
He filed his appeal on the same day.
Azhar sentenced Syed Saddiq to three years in prison and one stroke of the rotan on the CBT charge.
Syed Saddiq was also sentenced to another two years in prison and one stroke of the rotan for embezzling assets belonging to the youth wing of Bersatu.
Both of the sentences are to run consecutively, meaning he will serve a total of five years in jail.
Azhar also imposed a prison term of two years and a fine of RM5 million for each of the two money laundering charges. He ordered the jail sentences to run concurrently with the other prison sentence.
The judge, however, allowed an application by the defence to stay the sentences pending appeal.
He also ordered that all bail conditions be retained pending the appeal, including bail of RM300,000 posted by Syed Saddiq when initially charged.
Syed Saddiq, 32, is the first elected representative to be sentenced to a whipping for a white-collar crime under the Penal Code. The law exempts women and those aged 50 and above from the punishment.