KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution hopes that Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman can become a better person after serving his seven years jail term for his corruption conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said corruption cases among politicians have become increasingly common in our country these days.
"The people, therefore, sought a stronger deterrent sentence to prevent such incidents from recurring.
"In this case, politicians are entrusted but have betrayed that trust. Regardless of whether someone is 30-year-old or 50-year-old, if entrusted, do not betray it.
"Therefore, the court should impose preventive measures as a deterrent, so that other members of parliament (MP) contemplating similar wrongdoings will think twice or thrice.
"I pray that during the imprisonment, the accused will become a good son, a good MP, and a good member of society. He is still young. I am thankful that he regrets his mistake," he said in his submissions when pleading for deterrent sentence.
Earlier, the prosecution had quoted several renowned cases to show the trend of sentencing including Datuk Seri Najib Razak's corruption case for misappropriating funds belonging to SRC International Bhd.
Wan Shaharuddin proposed the court to set prison sentences ranging from one to four years for each charge as well as the sentences to run consecutively.
In offence of abetting criminal breach of trust, he suggested a fine of RM2 million and three to five strokes of the cane.
He also proposed a maximum fine of RM500,000 with five strokes of the cane for misappropriation of property as well as RM2 million for each of money laundering charges.
Judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid sentenced the accused to seven years behind bars and two strokes of the cane for all the charges.
He also imposed a fine of RM10 million in default four years jail against Syed Saddiq after he ruled that the defence had failed to cast reasonable doubt against the prosecution's case.
Syed Saddiq was charged as the then Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Armada wing chief who was entrusted with control of Armada funds, with abetting Bersatu assistant treasurer Rafiq Hakim Razali for committing criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving RM1 million of the organisation's funds.
He was also charged with misusing property for himself, namely RM120,000 from the Maybank Islamic Bhd account belonging to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise, by causing Rafiq to dispose of the money.
He was also charged with two counts of engaging in money laundering in two transactions of RM50,000, believed to be proceeds of unlawful activities, from his Maybank Islamic Bhd account into his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account.