FORMER National Kidney Foundation (NKF) chief executive T T Durai was cleared on Tuesday of the remaining charge of using a false invoice to deceive the charity.

The 59-year-old, who was brought to court in orange prison overalls and handcuffed, is currently serving a three-month jail sentence for deceiving the charity with a fake invoice of $20,000 to be paid to his interior designer friend, Mr David Tan.

As he was led into the dock, he broke into a smile when he saw his family members, including his wife. He appeared to have put on some weight.

In end-May, he lost his appeal against conviction and sentence in the High Court, which upheld the lower court's decision.

He started serving his sentence on June 10. The case followed on the heels of the scandal which rocked the charity and led Durai and the entire board to step down in 2005.

In court on Tuesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor David Khoo told District Judge Liew Thiam Leng that the prosecution had decided to withdraw the remaining charge against Durai.

He applied for a discharge amounting to an acquittal.

With good behaviour, Durai is exepcted to be out of jail in about three weeks.

His lawyer, Senior Counsel Sant Singh, spoke to Durai together with his family members for a while after the court session was over.