KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The Kuala Lumpur High Court has granted former Federal Territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on a charge of accepting a RM1 million (S$330,000) bribe in 2013.

High Court judge Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali granted the order of discharge on Monday (Dec 7) after the court was informed that the prosecution did not wish to continue with its case against Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan due to "new developments".

Under the Criminal Procedure Code, the prosecution may decline to prosecute further at any stage.

"Given that the public prosecution has informed the court that the prosecution does not wish to continue with the prosecution at this stage under Section 254(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, the proceedings shall be stayed and the accused shall be discharged from the same," the judge said.

Justice Nazlan said the court did not order a full acquittal on the basis that the prosecution has new developments that needed to be investigated.

The trial was initially scheduled to resume on Monday.

In Nov 2018, the Putrajaya MP and former Umno secretary-general was accused of corruptly receiving RM1 million from property developer Tan Eng Boon through a cheque belonging to a company that was deposited into Tengku Adnan's account.

The money was purportedly to reward him for approving the application of another company to increase the plot ratio in a project development in Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur.

The offence was allegedly committed at the CIMB Bank branch at the Putra World Trade Centre on Dec 27, 2013.

Tengku Adnan also faces an alternative charge, in his capacity as Federal Territories minister, of receiving for himself RM1 million from Mr Tan via a Public Bank cheque which was deposited into his CIMB account.

Tengku Adnan still has another case pending in the High Court, where he is accused of accepting RM2 million in his capacity as the Federal Territories minister from businessman Chan Kin Kong in 2016.