The defence team in jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's corruption trial told the Court of Appeal today that key prosecution witness Azizan Abu Bakar's evidence cannot be counted as he is "a person of low morals".

Counsel Christopher Fernando pointed out that Azizan, former driver of Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Ismail, was caught for khalwat (close proximity) last year with a college student and sentenced to three months in prison.

"There goes the evidence of a man who claimed to be a highly moral person. In other words, he had put himself on a pedestal as a far as morals were concerned. It has been proved that he was lying," Fernando said.

Testifying at the corruption trial of the jailed politician last year, Azizan told the High Court that he was repeatedly sodomised by Anwar. He also said that he had brought the incident to light because as a highly religious and moral person, he could not accept the homosexual behaviour of Anwar.

Anwar was dismissed from office and subsequently charged with corruption. Serving a six-year jail sentence, he hopes to overturn the judgment of High Court justice Augustine Paul.

The appeal, which began last Monday, is being heard by Court of Appeal president Lamin Yunus, Ahmad Fairus and Mokhtar Sidin.

Fernando further said that Azizan had committed perjury by lying in court. "This man has no regards for the sanctity of the court."

Over the past week, the defence has also argued that judge Paul, who heard the corruption case, had erred in law and Paul's reasoning was "fundamentally flawed".

"The result is the defence has been gravely and irreparably damaged," Fernando said.

He also said the defence team were further handicapped by the rigid consequences and threats of contempt posed by Paul. In short, Fernando summed up that, far from assisting, Paul's acts were probably detrimental to Anwar.

"This, my Lord, is a gross dereliction of the functions of an arbitrator."

The defence are expected to end their submission by mid-morning tomorrow. The prosecution will begin their submissions in the afternoon.

The appeal has drawn some controversy last week when Anwar sought to remove Mohtar Sidin, one of the judges on the three-member bench, from hearing his appeal.

He had claimed that his decision at a Conference of Rulers a few years ago against the promotion of Mohtar from High Court to the Court of Appeal for alleged corruption might affect the judge's impartiality.

Fernando told the court that the defence would begin their submissions on the six-year jail sentence in the event their appeal on the conviction is turned down.

Anwar currently stands trial with adopted brother Sukma Dermawan Sasmitaat Madja for sodomy and sexual misconduct. He is charged with sodomising Azizan "on one night between Jan and March 1993 at 7.45pm". Sukma is also charged with abetting and aiding Anwar to force sex on Azizan.

The one-time heir apparent has repeatedly denied all charges and says they were trumped up to end his blooming political career.