FORMER Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has said Bersatu was deregistered when he was alleged to have organised a fundraiser for Bersatu youth.

He said that the RM120,000 raised during the fundraising events on April 8 and 9, 2018 were for his 2018 general election campaign in Muar and were not meant for Bersatu.

“The RM120,000 raised was used in my GE14 campaign for Muar although the actual expenditure was around RM171,000,” said the Muar MP on Facebook live tonight.

The former Bersatu Youth chief said the charge that he had taken the funds that were meant for Bersatu did not make sense as the party was declared illegal on April 3, 2018.

“How can it be for the party when Bersatu was declared illegal on April 3 and had its bank accounts suspended.

“Moreover, if you look at all the invitations for the fundraisers, there were no mentions of Armada or Bersatu. All it says is ‘Fund-raising for Johor’”, said Syed Saddiq.

Further, the Muda president and founder said that he had invited Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to attend the fundraisers in his own capacity and not as Armada chief.

“Now Senior Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali and his family even attended and donated,” said Syed Saddiq.

The 29-year-old Muar MP was charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with two counts of misappropriating his former party funds to the sum of RM1.12 million today.

In the first charge, the Muar MP is accused of misappropriating RM1 million via a CIMB cheque, at CIMB Bank, KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur, on March 6 last year.

He is charged under Section 405 of the penal code for criminal breach of trust and faces up to 10 years in jail, caning and a fine if found guilty for the first charge.

In the second charge, he is accused of withdrawing RM120,000 from Maybank Islamic Bhd in Taman Pandan Jaya, Kuala Lumpur in April 2018.

The Muda president has pleaded not guilty to both charges. – July 22, 2021.