The defence in the appeal hearing of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim argued he should only be jailed one day and fined a minimum sum in the event the judges decide to uphold the corruption conviction.

"In the unlikely event this appeal is disallowed, I ask your lordship to impose a sentence of one day and a fine," Christopher Fernando said.

Anwar was charged and found guilty of corruption by judge Augustine Paul last April. He was sentenced to a six-year jail term for abusing his powers while in office.

Fernando pointed out that the sentence meted out to Anwar was "by far the heaviest sentence for corruption". He said in other corruption cases, involving money and other considerations, the sentences imposed were a maximum of two years jail and a fine not exceeding RM1,800.

"Here a man is charged for corruption and there is not a single sen involved, no property is involved and no valuable documents like share certificates are involved," Fernando said.

Anwar's former political secretary Azmin Ali's sister, Ummi Hafilda Ali, and Azizan Abu Bakar wrote letters to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad alleging Anwar repeatedly sodomised Azizan.

Ummi and former driver Azizan later retracted the allegations of sexual misconduct and sodomy and said they were false and based on mere suspicion. A police investigation led by Special Branch director Mohd Said Awang found the allegations to be false and baseless. Anwar, however, was later convicted for instructing SB officers to obtain the retraction letters.

Anwar, in his appeal hearing which started Monday last week, hopes to overturn the conviction and sentence. The hearing is presided by Court of Appeal president Lamin Yunus, Ahmad Fairus and Mokhtar Sidin.

Fernando submitted that in passing the sentence, Paul has failed to take into consideration Anwar's clean background and his service to the country as the deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

Fernando argued that despite vile allegations that Anwar abused his powers, was a womaniser and sexual pervert, he acted reasonably and co-operated with the trial judge.

"Throughout the proceedings, Anwar acted very decently, very magnanimously. He is a true statesman. If it had happened to the best of us,(with others) making vile, scandalous allegations against us, we would have gone to the police station and brought the roof down".

Pointing out that none of the elements of corruption or bribery was proven by the prosecution, Fernando said that "we will be condemned by the nation, world and posterity if we let such a conviction to stand."

In his rebuttal submission, lead prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail argued that the sentence meted out to the one-time heir apparent to the Prime Minister post is "appropriate". "He caused two innocent people (Ummi and Azizan) to be subjected to detention, interrogation and a 'turning over' process," Gani said.

Ummi and Azizan were detained in police headquarters, Bukit Aman, and interrogated incessantly for long hours without food or water regarding the allegations hurled against Anwar.

At the corruption trial, Azizan told Paul he made the retraction under duress as he was forced by SB officers who threatened to hold him under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for two years.

The submissions ended today after nine days of long and tedious legal arguments submitted by the defence and prosecution. Lamin said a verdict date would be set later.

Meanwhile, Anwar today filed an affidavit detailing the relevance of Mahathir's testimony to his ongoing sodomy trial. The sodomy trial was postponed to allow Anwar to attend the appeal hearing. Judge Arifin Jaka is expected to set the new hearing date on Monday.

Anwar currently stands trial for a separate charge of sodomy and sexual misconduct. He has repeatedly denied all charges and says they were trumped up to topple him from power.