PUTRAJAYA, June 25 — Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has won his appeal against his conviction and sentence for corruption by the High Court.

A three-member Court of Appeal (CoA) panel led by Justice Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim said the decision was unanimous. He was joined by Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin.

Delivering the court’s decision, Justice Noorin said that High Court Judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid had erred in several decisions, and that there was no element of dishonesty when the former Youth and Sports Minister instructed his staff to remove money from Bersatu’s youth branch Armada’s bank accounts.

She said the trial judge did not take into account the procedures and contradictory evidence, and also took into account evidence given by witnesses under duress from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

She added that the instructions to withdraw the money at the time were based on valid concerns, and his conduct was reasonable as he was legally entitled to the monies.

"The learned trial judge did not look at evidence on all grounds, and we consider the non-direction of the learned trial judge amounts to misdirection,” she said.

"We reviewed and found the judge failed to consider all the evidence in the case and that there was a serious lapse in the decision-making process. The judge must explain how his logic considered all the evidence in the defence.

"As such, the conviction and sentences are set aside,” she concluded.

While the verdict was being read, Syed Saddiq — dressed in a black suit and tie — could be seen nodding at times and taking notes. About 25 minutes in, he was seen wiping his eyes.

Singer and actress Bella Astillah, who sat with Syed Saddiq’s family members in court, was dressed in a floral blue baju kurung.

Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told Malay Mail that the prosecution accepted the court’s decision but was considering whether to file a further appeal.

"We’ll see, we may consider it,” he said briefly when met.

However, during a press conference at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters today, chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said he had been informed by the prosecution that they will file an appeal against today’s decision in the Federal Court.

Syed Saddiq was found guilty in November 2023 of abetting in CBT involving more than RM1 million belonging to Bersatu Youth, and another count of dishonestly misappropriating property totalling more than RM120,000 also belonging to the wing.

The former Bersatu Youth chief was also convicted on two counts of money laundering for transferring a total of RM100,000 to his personal account from a company linked to the youth wing, Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise.

He was sentenced to three years’ jail and one stroke of the rotan on the CBT charge, two years and another stroke of the cane on the misappropriation charge, and another two-year jail term for each of the money laundering offences.