KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Umno’s top leadership today chose not to comment at all on Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s high-profile charges today.

At the tail end of a press conference after the party’s supreme council meeting, president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was asked whether the party will hold a solidarity rally for the former prime minister.

Zahid simply smiled, refrained from commenting and proceeded to exit the press conference room.

While some Umno leaders such as Youth chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki and supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam showed up in court today to support Najib, other leaders from the party were noticeably absent.

Najib, who will turn 65 on July 23, was slapped with three counts of criminal breach of trust under the Penal Code and one count of power abuse for self-gratification under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

He pleaded not guilty to all of them.

The judge imposed bail at RM1 million and granted an interim media gag order upon the request of Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

High Court judge Datuk Mohd Sofian Abd Razak fixed the case for management on August 8, 2018, but set the trial proper to start from February 18 to 28, 2019.

The trial will then take a break and resume from March 4 to 8, 2019 before another short break, and continue from March 11 to 15, 2019.