The report puts pressure on the Malaysian government and the police to quickly show evidence that he had sexually assaulted the young man.

Police said yesterday that the investigations would continue. The Malaysian Insider news website quoted sources as saying that Mr Anwar will be charged with sodomy soon.

A doctor at a government-linked hospital who apparently examined Mr Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Datuk Seri Anwar's 23-year-old former aide, found no evidence of sexual assault.

The June 28 medical report was first reported by a popular news website on Monday.

'The hospital report...confirms our contention that the allegations levelled against me are baseless and politically motivated,' Mr Anwar told a packed news conference at his party headquarters.

'Police should stop this investigation. With this evidence, this is an end to it.'

The doctor at Hospital Pusrawi in Kuala Lumpur, Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid, is thought to be on vacation. Police denied allegations that the doctor was in detention.

Deputy police chief Ismail Omar said the sodomy probe would continue. 'We want to solve this case as soon as possible,' he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Parti Islam SeMalaysia leader Dr Syed Azman Syed Nawawi said the Hospital Pusrawi document put pressure on the government to charge or vindicate Mr Anwar.

But the medical report and the denials by Mr Anwar is unlikely to douse raging controversy over the issue.

Although Mr Saiful was first examined at Hospital Pusrawi, he later went for another examination at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) before filing a police report against Mr Anwar.

The Health Ministry's director-general Ismail Merican said yesterday that his ministry stood by the findings of the doctors at the government-run Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

Tan Sri Ismail declined to disclose the findings of the report, The Star newspaper said.

But earlier this month, New Straits Times newspaper reported that 'doctors at the HKL, after a battery of tests, found indications that Saiful had engaged in anal sex'.

Professor James Chin, who teaches political science at Monash University Malaysia, told The Straits Times that a better political campaign could not have been cooked up by Mr Anwar.

'Whatever happens, Anwar will win. If the authorities prosecute Anwar, he will get his name in the newspapers, either positively or negatively... If they don't prosecute Anwar, it will make PM Abdullah Badawi look stupid,' he said.

hazlinh@sph.com.sg