“I will discuss with the prosecution team and study the grounds of decision of the learned judge first,” he told FMT in a text message.

This comes after Shah Alam High Court judge Yazid Mustafa ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the Umno president.

“In view of the failure by the prosecution to prove the most important element in all the charges levelled against the accused, that is the receipt of corrupt monies, upon exercise of the maximum evaluation of the evidence in totality, I find the prosecution has failed to make out a prima facie case on all charges,” Yazid said in his judgment.

He said the full judgment will be made available on Monday.

Zahid, 69, had been accused of 33 counts of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million (RM42 million) from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) as the then home minister to extend the firm’s contract as the operator of a one-stop centre in China and the VLN system as well as to maintain a contract for the supply of the VLN integrated system.

He was also charged with seven other counts of obtaining for himself S$1.15 million, RM3 million, 15,000 Swiss francs and US$15,000 from the same company in connection with his official duties.

The offences were alleged to have been committed at Seri Satria in Precinct 16, Putrajaya, and at Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and March 2018.

Zahid still faces 35 charges in the Kuala Lumpur High Court for money laundering and criminal breach of trust involving millions from Yayasan Akalbudi and for accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as the home minister.

Lawyer Guok Ngek Seong said the prosecution has 14 days from today to file a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal against the decision.

“If filed, the appeal may come up for hearing fairly quickly as the trial judge has already prepared his written grounds,” he said.