Former Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, has been convicted of abetting in criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of funds, and money laundering, according to a report from Indonesia’s state news agency, Bernama. He has been sentenced to seven years in prison in addition to two lashes of the whip.
The charges against Syed Saddiq stem from allegations that he enabled a subordinate to withdraw 1 million ringgit (213,538 USD) from the account of the Bersatu party during his tenure as youth chief from 2016 to 2020. In addition, Syed Saddiq faced charges for money laundering in relation to the movement of 100,000 ringgit (21,380 USD) from his personal account into his unit trust account.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court found Syed Saddiq guilty on all counts, proclaiming that he failed to adequately refute the allegations. Following the conviction, Syed Saddiq announced his resignation as president of the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda), a youth-focused political organization which he founded after his removal from Bersatu in May 2020 in the midst of a political crisis.
Malaysia’s practice of using whipping as a part of legal sentencing is a longstanding point of contention, seen as a serious human rights concern by many. The country utilizes whipping as a sentence for over 50 different criminal offenses and in many cases this form of punishment is mandatory. Human rights organizations have widely decried the practice as “cruel, inhumane, and degrading”.