The claims were made in court Monday by a defence witness in the sodomy trial of Mahathir's jailed former deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar, once Mahathir's heir apparent and now his bitter enemy, filed a handwritten complaint to police urging them to investigate the claims.

Copies of his complaint, which he gave to police in the cells at the court Tuesday, were faxed to reporters. Shafee Yahaya, head of the Anti-Corruption Agency at the time, testified that Mahathir had ordered him to drop an inquiry into an official who later became central bank governor.

Shafee said the incident happened in June 1998 -- three months before Mahathir sacked Anwar -- after the agency raided the office of the director general of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and found a large sum of money. The EPU director general was Ali Abul Hassan Sulaiman, who was appointed central bank governor three months later and has now retired.

The National Justice Party (Keadilan) headed by Anwar's wife called in a statement for the attorney-general to investigate the allegations made in court.

It said Anwar's sentencing in April 1999 to six years in jail for abuse of power, raised serious doubts about politics and the administration of justice.

"To prove that there is no selective prosecution in our legal system, we want the attorney-general to act immediately on the allegations against Dr. Mahathir," the statement added.

Fadzil Noor, president of the Parti Islam SeMalaysia, also urged the attorney general to conduct an immediate inquiry into what he called "a very scandalous allegation."

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party, urged Mahathir to respond to the "shocking" court testimony.

He said it contradicted all Mahathir's assurances over 19 years that the anti-corruption agency is completely independent.

Mahathir returned Tuesday afternoon from a six-day visit to Japan. There was no immediate official response to Shafee's testimony.