A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Justice P Ravinthran said the sessions court was correct to hold that no prima facie case was established after ruling that three witnesses were not credible in their testimony.

“We find no reason to interfere with that finding, and after considering the circumstances of the case, we dismiss the appeal,” said Ravinthran, who sat with Justices Mariana Yahya and SM Komathy.

Ravinthran said there was also no documentary evidence that Sabudin, 61, had received the money.

“Moreover, a report about the matter was made after a considerable delay,” he said.

A report was made to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in May 2019, nine months after the alleged incident took place.

Sessions court judge Suzana Hussain acquitted Sabudin on April 8, 2021, and the decision was affirmed by High Court judge Azhar Abdul Hamid on Feb 28 last year.

Ten prosecution witnesses testified in the trial.

Sabudin, who was senior deputy director at DBKL’s civil engineering and urban transportation department, was charged with corruptly receiving RM150,000 from Chia Chee Seng, a director of Tegap Elit Sdn Bhd, as an inducement for him to verify claims for advance payment submitted by three companies.

These companies were involved in the maintenance of roads under DBKL’s jurisdiction.

He was charged with committing the offence at a house in Ukay Perdana between Aug 13 and 19, 2018.

The charge was framed under Section 165 of the Penal Code for accepting a bribe without consideration when he knew the companies had dealings with DBKL.

Those found guilty could be jailed up to two years, or a fine, or both.

Lawyer K Theivaendran and Y Sheelan Samuagam represented Sabudin, while deputy public prosecutor Norzilati Izhani Zainal appeared for the prosecution.