Earlier today (Thursday, 9th November) it was reported that Syed Saddiq has been found guilty of corruption. According to the politician himself, the case has been ongoing since 2020 after he was accused of criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of funds and money laundering.
He has been fighting for his innocence ever since but the High Court returned a guilty verdict on all those charges. As for how MUDA (Malaysian United Democratic Alliance) reacted, the party said they will continue to support their president.
As punishment, according to several news reports, Syed Saddiq will be sentenced to 3 years in prison and one stroke of the cane for the CBT charge whereas 2 years in prison and another stroke of the cane for misappropriation of funds charge. For the two counts of money laundering, it was reported he’ll also be sentenced to 2 years in prison and a fine of RM5 million for each count.
Should he fail to pay the fines, 2 more years will be added to his prison sentence. Combining all of this, the MUDA president will receive a total of up to 9 years of prison, a RM10 million fine and 2 strokes of the cane. According to the 30-year-old’s attorney, they have filed for an appeal earlier in court. The lawyer told the media that his client regrets his mistakes and hopes that the court would consider not imposing the caning sentence but only a prison or fine sentence.
After the news broke out, a few public figures shared their thoughts regarding the guilty verdict by the High Court. Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh showed support for her predecessor on Twitter saying, “On a personal front, I am very sad for my friend Syed Saddiq. But I am also aware that the law has its process which must be respected and he is known to be a fighter.”
While he did not specifically mention a name, netizens suspected that the Crown Prince of Johor (TMJ), Tunku Ismail Idris threw shade at the politician in a tweet by quoting the late American rapper Tupac. “Love this quote by Tupac Shakur. ‘Life is a wheel of fortune and it’s my time to spin it’ ⏳🕶️” he wrote.
What do you think about all of this?
Sources: MalayMail, Twitter (1)(2)(3), Sin Chew Daily
