Defence lawyer Raja Aziz Addruse today told the Court of Appeal that judge Augustine Paul was defending the public prosecutors when he cited counsel Zainur Zakaria for contempt of court.

Raja Aziz said this during the appeal hearing of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's counsel Zainur, who was cited for contempt of court by High Court judge Paul during Anwar's corruption trial last year. "Because of the role the judge had accorded on himself, we (defence) had no chance to complain," Raja Aziz said.

Pointing out the procedure adopted by Paul was "extraordinary", Raja Aziz told the court that the judge "acted as if the case (affidavit) was against him".

Zainur was sentenced to three months jail by Paul on Nov 30, 1998 after refusing to unconditionally apologise to the court for filing Anwar's application to discharge Abdul Gani and Azahar for being involved in a move to fabricate sexual evidence against Anwar.

Anwar based his affidavit on Manjit Singh Dhillon's statutory declaration dated Nov 9, 1998 which detailed a meeting with Gani and a letter dated Oct 12, 1998 to Attorney General Mohtar Abdullah complaining of the prosecuting officers' conduct.

Manjit, in his affidavit, said both Abdul Gani and Azahar approached him to broker a deal with his client S. Nallakaruppan to fabricate sexual evidence against Anwar in return for a lesser charge. Businessman and Anwar's former tennis partner Nalla was then facing a charge which carries the death penalty for possession of bullets in his home.

Paul found the allegations in Anwar's affidavit baseless, scandalous and trying to undermine the integrity of the court. After pronouncing sentence, Paul also denied Zainur a stay of execution and bail. A prompt application to the Court of Appeal was allowed, and Zainur posted RM10,000 bail in one surety.

Raja Aziz, this morning, told the court the suspicioun that Paul might have cited Zainur for contempt to defend the prosecution arises as Manjit's statutory declaration was never investigated upon although the court did not dispute its contents.

"Augustine Paul did not give the defence the chance to call Manjit to court and have the statutory declaration investigated. What is important to note is that Manjit did not withdraw what he said (in the affidavit)," Raja Aziz said.

Yusof Zainal Abidin, who headed the prosecution team, said the affidavit was filed by Anwar's counsel to "prejudice the case, stop the corruption trial and influence the mind of the judge (Paul)".

He said there is no evidence to suggest Abdul Gani or Azahar had asked Nalla to fabricate evidence against Anwar. "What the appellant did was to draft an affidavit and conclude that Gani Patail had attempted to fabricate evidence against Datuk Seri Anwar," Yusof said, adding it is "contempt of the highest order".

Zainur's appeal hearing, which ended this afternoon, was heard by Court of Appeal president Lamin Yunus, Ahmad Fairus and Mokhtar Sidin. Extending Zainur's bail, Lamin deferred judgement to a future date which will be announced later.

Meanwhile, Anwar's sodomy trial scheduled to continue today was postponed to tomorrow. Defence counsel Karpal Singh said that the trial was put off because a number of defence lawyers are involved in Zainur's appeal hearing.

Anwar, having been denied bail, is serving a six-year jail term for corruption. He stands trial with adopted brother Sukma Dermawan Sasmitaat Madja for a separate charge of sodomy and sexual misconduct.

The former heir apparent of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has repeatedly denied all charges and says they are part of a political conspiracy to ruin his political image and topple him from power.