KUALA LUMPUR. Dec 11: A senior police officer testifying in the corruption and sexual misconduct trial of Anwar Ibrahim said Friday that Anwar told police not to investigate allegations that he committed sexual misdeeds, reports

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"When 1 told Anwar that our Investigations were still not completed and were only in its initial stages, he told me that this matter shouldn't be pursued further." Musa Hassan, the prosecution's 13th witness, told the court.

Musa, the officer charged with investigating Anwar since last year, said Anwar issued the directive in the presence of Malaysia's top lawmaker, Attorney-General Mohtar Abdullah.

"Anwar told us that the investigations should be stopped because it goes against what the

prime minister had already concluded, that the matter was slanderous," Musa said.

His testimony sparked off a storm of protest from Anwar’s defense team, who accused prosecutors of using the witness to introduce, prejudicial evidence unrelated to any of the charges leveled against the ousted deputy prime minister.

'This piece of evidence is clearly being introduced for its prejudicial value," said lawyer Christopher Fernando. "It offends the rule of relevancy."

Trial judge Augustine Paul overruled the objections, dealing the defense team another setback. On Thursday. Paul reversed his decision to let defense lawyers argue that a key prosecution witness was lying about being sodomized by Anwar.

The prosecution is trying to prove that Anwar put immense

pressure on the police to silence two people — the former driver of his wife and the sister of his former secretary — and obtain retractions from them.

Azizan Abu Bakar, the driver, has testified that Anwar repeatedly sodomized him in 1992, while Ummi Hafilda Ali has accused Anwar of sleeping with her brother s wife.

Th? two were arrested briefly in August 1997 and have claimed they were forced by police to sign statement retracting their allegations against Anwar.

Earlier. Musa said that regular police were kept from interrogating Ummi Hafilda and Azizan.

Intelligence officers of the Special Branch were deputed to interrogate the two accusers and not the detectives from his criminal investigation department. Musa testified.