High Court judge Arifin Jaka will decide this Friday on whether Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad should testify in the ongoing sodomy trial of jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

"I will deliver my decision on this matter on Friday as I have to refer to the evidence again," Arifin told the court this afternoon.

The submissions on the relevance of Mahathir's testimony in the trial ended today after the defence and prosecution argued over the matter in court for over three weeks.

Lead prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail told Arifin this morning that the court is not a forum for Anwar to complain about his dismissal from the government.

"Looking at the affidavit of Anwar, we submit that the intention is only to ridicule and scandalise the (potential) witness (Mahathir)," said Gani during his submission on Mahathir's affidavit, which was filed in response to Anwar's affidavit on why the prime minister should be put in the witness box.

Gani added that the defence was not serious in its arguments and its application to call Mahathir as a witness was an abuse of the process of law.

"The defence has failed to show that the prime minister was involved in any conspiracy to fabricate evidence. We submit that all their accusations are baseless and irrelevant to our case," he said.

Gani also said that all the three affidavits filed (two by Anwar and one by Mahathir) were more of a political squabble rather than evidence which was relevant for the just decision of the court.

"It is therefore questionable as to why the prime minister is being asked to give evidence to this court. The court must maintain its integrity and not allow any party whatsoever to take the court for a totally different purpose other than to seek justice," Gani added.

In response, defence counsel Karpal Singh reminded the judge that public confidence in the court would be lost if its application to call Mahathir as a witness was not allowed.

"Even a first-year law student would be able to say from the affidavits that Mahathir's evidence is material and relevant," Karpal said.

He added that the prime minister should be as brave as United States President Bill Clinton who had, in front of the grand jury, admitted that he had lied when he denied his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

"Mahathir has time and again said that he is prepared to come to court to give evidence and that he is not afraid. But the very same man suddenly disappears to Havana. It is like the lion that turns into a mouse," Karpal said, to the laughter of the court.

He stressed that the prime minister's evidence in court would give relevance to the evidence of other personalities such as Daim Zainuddin, Aziz Shamsuddin and Megat Junid Megat Ayob.

"Don't deprive us of the prime minister's evidence because you will then be depriving us from calling the rest of them. Furthermore, we want to know from him (Mahathir) why he had a change of stand when, in the beginning he said that the allegations against Anwar were baseless, but later changed his mind," Karpal added.

Gobind Deo, counsel for Anwar's adopted brother Sukma Dermawan, closed the submission by adding that the most scandalous of all (in relation to Gani's submission against the defence earlier) was to deny Sukma an opportunity to put forward his defence, particularly to challenge the credibility of ex-driver and key witness Azizan Abu Bakar's evidence.

"Sukma has a witness who can come to court to testify that Azizan had in fact admitted to him that there never had been any sexual activity between Azizan and Anwar. And that witness unfortunately happens to be the prime minister," Gobind said.

He added that the defence can only prove the fact (Azizan's denial) by calling in Mahathir.

"The evidence will raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case, which inevitably will fail the charge against Sukma," Gobind said.

Meanwhile, the trial will continue tomorrow with the defence calling in a witness, Norazman Abdullah @ Baginda anak Minda, an aide of former MP and businessman S'ng Chee Hua. Norazman testified in Anwar's corruption trial last year regarding a tape conversation between S'ng and the prosecution star witness, Ummi Hafilda Ali.

Anwar is charged with forcing sex on his wife's former driver Azizan with the aid of Sukma.

He is serving a six-year jail term for corruption and stands trial on a separate charge of sodomy and sexual misconduct. He has repeatedly denied all charges and says they were fabricated to end his political career.