Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad filed a 14-page affidavit this afternoon challenging his former deputy's attempts to call him as a witness in the ongoing sex trial.

He said that summoning him as a witness in sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial is "in bad taste and abuse of the court process".

Mahathir also said that he believed in the sexual allegations against Anwar and stressed he had the right as PM to sack him.

"I believed the allegations were untrue at one time as Anwar portrayed himself as a decent man who strictly adheres to Islamic teachings. Subsequent police investigations, however, convinced me the sexual allegations against him were true," Mahathir said.

Mahathir had earlier told reporters the sexual allegations and rumours were politically motivated and circulated with malicious intentions aimed at tarnishing Anwar's good reputation. He subsequently sacked his one-time heir apparent stating Anwar is morally unfit to lead Malaysia.

Anwar filed an affidavit stating Mahathir's evidence is crucial to show the political conspiracy to topple him from power. Mahathir told reporters he is willing to testify in court but will only "answer questions relevant to the sodomy charge and not political conspiracy".

Mahathir's affidavit states he never ordered or conspired with anyone to fabricate sexual evidence against Anwar.

"I do not have any personal knowledge or evidence to show there was a political conspiracy to topple Anwar from power," he said.

Anwar, on the other hand, has repeatedly denied all charges of corruption and sexual misconduct framed against him and maintains they were orchestrated by Mahathir and his aides to ruin his political career.

Mahathir, in the affidavit, also denied threatening his former protege with prosecution if Anwar declined to resign from his post of deputy prime minister.

"I told him (Anwar) he must resign because of his homosexual activities or I will sack him. I, however, never threatened to charge him," Mahathir said.

The premier said the decision to charge him was made by the Attorney-General's office and has nothing to do with him.

Mahathir maintains he never bore any grudge against Anwar or felt his position as the premier and Umno president being threatened by his deputy.

Anwar has repeatedly told reporters that Mahathir and his aides were unhappy with his actions to curb corruption and cronyism in the government's machinery.

The one-time finance minister said Mahathir was unhappy with him for interfering in his eldest son Mirzan Mahathir's business dealings. Anwar incessantly alleged Mirzan's shipping business was bailed out by the government when it was hit by the 1997 economic crisis.

The battle between Mahathir and his former deputy, however, is far from over as Anwar's lawyer, who declined to be named, said Anwar has "filed a devastating affidavit" in reply to Mahathir's motion.

Anwar's lawyers told judge Arifin Jaka that they will argue Mahathir's and finance minister Daim Zainuddin's affidavits tomorrow morning.

Last week, Daim had filed a motion to set aside the subpoena served on him to appear as a witness in Anwar's trial, stating he is "not in a position to give relevant or material evidence" in court.

Deputy Education Minister Aziz Shamsuddin, meanwhile, retracted his motion to set aside the subpeona served on him.

Meanwhile, former deputy home minister and consumer affairs minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub continues to wait to be put on the witness stand. He was reported by Harakah to have visited Anwar in the court's lock-up and apologised to the former deputy premier. However, Megat Junid denied that he had cried during the meeting.

Anwar is serving a six-year jail term for corruption and stands trial for a separate charge of sodomy and sexual misconduct.