PETALING JAYA: The prosecution has filed a notice of appeal against the acquittal of Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman on corruption and money laundering charges.

The notice was filed on Thursday (June 26), as stated in a release by the Attorney-General's Chambers.

The intended appeal challenges the Court of Appeal's decision to set aside the conviction of the Muda founder on Wednesday (June 25).

In its unanimous decision, the appellate court allowed the former youth and sports minister’s appeal, stating that Syed Saddiq should have been acquitted without his defence being called during the trial.

The three-judge Bench concluded that the prosecution failed to prove the elements of the predicate charges of abetting in criminal breach of trust (CBT) and dishonest misappropriation.

The court held that Syed Saddiq was legally entitled to the money collected from donors for his political campaign and that allegations of fund misappropriation would not have arisen if the money had been directly deposited into his bank account.

ALSO READ: Syed Saddiq acquitted

The court agreed with Syed Saddiq’s defence that the money from public contributions was intended to effectively finance his election campaign and not for Armada Bersatu, his former political party.

Syed Saddiq was found guilty by the High Court 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. He was also fined RM10 million.