BERSATU youth (Armada)’s treasurer was detained by graft busters last night in relation to RM250,000 cash that went missing from wing chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman’s home in March.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commissioner (Operations) Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya confirmed the arrest.

“Yes, it was the Armada treasurer. The arrest is in relation to the missing cash from Syed Saddiq’s home,” Khusairi told The Malaysian Insight.

“The suspect will have to explain whether Armada funds were misused by certain parties. There is no political motive behind this arrest,” he added.

The suspect will be remanded for five days.

The arrest has been condemned as a move to silence Armada members who have been criticising party leaders amid a split between those supporting Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also prime minister, and party chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whom Muhyiddin ousted in late February.

Armada information chief Ulya Aqamah Husamudin said the youth wing believed the arrest will be the start of a wider dragnet against critics of the party’s leaders.

“This is a form of pressure to silence Armada members who have different views with the party leadership

“We do not want Malaysia to regress to a state where power is abused to accuse outspoken party members with different views,” Ulya said in a statement.

Syed Saddiq, who is aligned to Dr Mahathir, had on March 29 lodged a police report about the missing cash that was taken from a safe in his house.

He said the last time he had opened the safe was on March 13 or 14, and that only a few people knew about the security code.

Syed Saddiq was ordered to declare his assets to the MACC last month as part of investigations.

MACC on March 31 said it had begun investigations after someone lodged a report about the missing cash. – June 3, 2020.