A former UMNO division head at the sodomy trial of jailed ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim today told the High Court that he was instructed to spread a rumour that Anwar was "an CIA agent".

Further attempts by defence counsel Gurbachan Singh to adduce evidence relating to the rumour were stalled when judge Arifin Jaka reminded him to "stick with the issues of sodomy and misconduct".

"I'm not interested in anything else," Arifin said.

Raja Kamaruddin Raja Wahid, who continued with his testimony from last Friday, said that Deputy Education Minister Aziz Shamsuddin, who was then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's political secretary,also told him (Kamaruddin) he was put in charge of spreading fabricated evidence against Anwar to his constituency and supporters.

"My work is to receive the information and reports from Dato' Aziz, which were cooked up by Azizan and Ummi, and spread them to Anwar's supporters," Kamaruddin said, adding that it was done to instigate Anwar's supporters to hate him.

Kamaruddin said that Aziz also fabricated portions and made changes to the drafts of a letter written by Ummi Hafilda and Azizan Abu Bakar.

Azizan, former driver to Anwar's wife, Azizah Ismail, and Ummi Hafilda, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad alleging that Anwar had sodomised Azizan. They later revoked the statements contained in the letter and said they were forced to retract the statements by Anwar who used his political powers to threaten them.

Kamaruddin, an ex-commando, said Anwar was framed for sodomy and sexual misconduct as these charges would have more impact than other wrongdoings.

Impeccably dressed in a brown jacket, the visibly excited Kamaruddin spoke too fast for the comfort of judge Arifin Jaka who took down notes in longhand. "Don't get too excited. Hold on," Arifin said, struggling to keep up with the pace of the defence witness.

Kamaruddin told the court that he was at a meeting between Aziz, Rais Zainuddin and a female secretary of Mahathir to plan the strategy to topple Anwar. Rais, according to him, was Mahathir's aide.

"Dato' Aziz hates Anwar and said he had been planning to topple him since 1997. He also told me that he would nail Anwar this time around as he (Aziz) had conspired with everyone," Kamaruddin said.

The one-time heir apparent is charged together with his adopted brother Sukma Dermawan Sasmitaat Madja for sodomising Azizan on "one night between January and March 1993 at 7.45pm". Sukma is also charged with abetting and aiding Anwar to sodomise the former driver.

Kamaruddin said he did not carry out the task allocated to him but warned Anwar about the planned conspiracy. "I did not do as told because I could not accept the sodomy and sexual misconduct charges framed against Anwar."

He also wrote a letter dated Aug 15 last year to Mahathir explaining the conspiracy to topple Anwar. "I also videotaped a confession about the conspiracy plan as I feared for my safety. I know Dato' Aziz is very powerful because he is close to Mahathir," Kamaruddin said. The video tape was tendered as an exhibit in court.

Earlier, prosecutor Azahar Mohamed objected to defence counsel Gurbachan Singh's line of questioning because he pointed out that the defence had stated they are not calling Aziz as a witness. Arifin, however, allowed Gurbachan to continue and advised Azahar to raise the issue during submissions at the end of the defence case.

"If they don't call Aziz, you submit on that. They (the defence) are taking a risk. They may decide to call Aziz Shamsuddin after all," Arifin said.

According to the principles of criminal law, the defence need not prove Anwar's innocence as it is sufficient for them to cast a reasonable doubt that the former premier did not commit the offences as charged.

The former Mahathir protege had adduced defence of alibi for his whereabouts between the stipulated time frame as mentioned in the charge to show that he could not have had forced sex on Azizan. The prosecution is yet to challenge Anwar's defence alibi.

Anwar currently stands trial for sodomy and sexual misconduct and serves a-six-year jail term for abusing his political powers while in office. He had repeatedly denied all charges and says they were fabricated by Mahathir's aides to end his political career.