Rizal Mansor, a former aide to Rosmah Mansor, has been acquitted of corruption charges after prosecutors withdrew their case.

Deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram had informed Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamad Zaini Mazlan of this development this afternoon.

In 2018, Rizal (above) was charged with soliciting and receiving bribes of RM5.5 million for himself and more for Rosmah for a solar energy project in Sarawak.

Rosmah was charged for soliciting RM189 million in bribes. Their cases were eventually heard together.

This latest development does open up speculation that Rizal might become a prosecution witness.

In November, prosecutors informed the Kuala Lumpur High Court that the former 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy would become a prosecution witness against co-accused Najib Abdul Razak. 

Arul Kanda and Najib were both standing trial over the alleged tampering of the auditor-general's report on 1MDB.

At the time, prosecutors said will invoke Section 63 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 to compel Arul Kanda to testify against Najib.

Unlike Arul Kanda's case, the prosecutors for Rizal's case did not cite Section 63.