A former aide to the Selangor menteri besar, Mohd Yahya Mat Sahri, has been acquitted of a cheating charge by the sessions court in Shah Alam.

Judge Azhaniz Teh Azman Teh ruled at the end of submissions by the defence that some doubts have been successfully raised against the prosecution's case.

"Following this, the court acquits the accused of the charge," he said.

NONE Eight defence witnesses, including Seri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, had testified in the trial. Others included PAS and DAP supporters, while a total of 28 prosecution witnesses had testified.

Yahya (with red necktie) , 44, was charged with deceiving the chairperson of Selangor state subsidiary Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd, Abdul Karim Munisar, into giving him RM50,000 on June 4, 2008, as a donation to celebrate Pakatan Rakyat's 100 days in office.

On Dec 1 last year, Azhaniz Teh had acquitted Yahya on a charge of using a false document to open a bank account for the Selangor PKR at the Bandar Sungai Way Maybank branch on May 14, 2008.

In today's proceedings, the prosecution was represented by Roziza Sidek from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, while Ahmad Nizam Hamid and T Suresh appeared for Yahya.

Yahya was initially suspended when claims of alleged graft surfaced following the then Anti-Corruption Agency probe.

His suspension by Khalid had created a furore among his supporters, as they had protested at Khalid’s official residence in Section 7 Shah Alam.

However, Yahya, who was then the Selangor PKR secretary, took the immediate step to resign from his post in order to avoid an outright confrontation with the MB.

Yahya has been an Anwar Ibrahim loyalist since the early days of reformasi .