THE Kuala Lumpur High Court was told today that Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman used his own money in the 14th general election campaign, without financial assistance from Armada and Bersatu.

Syed Saddiq’s former private secretary, Siti Nurul Hidayah, 27, said because the former used his money to campaign for the Muar parliamentary seat, his team (Team Saddiq) tasked to handle his programme had planned to host fundraisers to help the campaign trail.

“Team Saddiq had discussed and planned to hold two fundraising events, the Muo charity dinner in Muar and the Fund-Raising Battle for Johor in Ampang.

“We also discussed the best measures to manage the collection from the events and thought it was inappropriate for YB (Syed Saddiq) to use his personal account to collect funds before deciding to use the Maybank business account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise (ABBE) for that purpose,” she said.

She said this when reading from her witness statement on the fourth day of defence proceedings over four charges of abetting criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of assets and money-laundering.

The fourth defence witness said Syed Saddiq had spent RM30,000 to cover the costs of the events, which was given to her in cash, as she was responsible for managing all financial affairs and expenses throughout the campaign.

Meanwhile, Siti Nurul Hidayah agreed with deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Asyraf Mohamed Tahir’s suggestion that Syed Saddiq selected her to join his team because of their close relationship and that he trusted her.

“My duties as YB’s private secretary were to take his pictures and videos when he was working and upload them on social media, manage his daily schedule besides matters related to his finances, among other things,” she said.

To a question by Asyraf if she knew the money collected from the fundraising events had been transferred from ABBE’s account to Syed Saddiq’s personal account and Amanah Saham Bumiputera’s account, she said no.

Siti Nurul Hidayah disagreed with Asyraf’s suggestion that the Muar MP did not tell her about the transactions (into his personal accounts) because it was wrong.

The witness also disagreed with Asyraf’s suggestion she became a witness for the defence team to prevent Syed Saddiq from going to jail.

Meanwhile, Siti Nurul Hidayah said she was threatened by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers when she was called up to testify in the investigation against Syed Saddiq in 2020, adding that she lodged a police report and held a press conference in connection with the incident.

Syed Saddiq, 30, is charged as the then Armada chief, with abetting Rafiq Hakim, who was entrusted with RM1 million in funds belonging to the wing, to commit a criminal breach of trust by misappropriating the funds at CIMB Bank Bhd, Menara CIMB KL Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2 here on March 6, 2020.

The Johor Baru native is also charged with misappropriating RM120,000 from the Maybank Islamic Bhd account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise by causing Rafiq to dispose of the money at Malayan Banking Bhd, Jalan Pandan 3/6A, Taman Pandan Jaya between April 8 and 21, 2018.

He also faces two counts of money-laundering – two transactions of RM50,000 – each believed to be proceeds from unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account at a bank in Jalan Persisiran Perling, Taman Perling, Johor Baru, on June 16 and 19, 2018.

The trial before judge Azhar Abdul Hamid continues tomorrow. – Bernama, March 13, 2023.