Dewan Rakyat speaker Ramli Ngah Talib today rejected the opposition's emergency motion seek to debate the RM7.14 million gambling debt of former Sabah chief minister Osu Sukam.

In dismissing the motion by Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor), the speaker said the matter did not involve the public interest.

"In my view, this motion touches on a private matter and does not fulfill the requirement of urgent to be debated," he told the House, as murmurs arose from DAP parliamentarians.

Osu, who is currently Papar Umno division chief, was Sabah chief minister from 1999 to 2001. He is being sued by the Ritz Hotel Casino Ltd and RHC Ltd in London who are seeking to recover the money from him.

Last week, Kota Kinabalu High Court judge Ian Chin threw out the two creditors' application to register the judgement obtained against Osu in an English high court, on grounds that this is against public policy.

'Astronomical wealth'

In tabling the motion, Lim stated that Osu had neither contested the legal suit against him nor contradicted the affidavit of the gaming manager of Ritz Hotel Casino, Robert William Whitehall dated May 29, 2003.

Among other things, it stated that Osu had applied to be member of the casino in July 2000 - while still chief minister - and was granted cheque cashing facilities of up to 500,000 pounds sterling (RM3.36 million) in February 2002. This was increased to 1.5 million pounds sterling (RM10 million) in May.

The affidavit also said Osu "gambled on almost a daily basis" during his trips to London in February, April, May and September 2002. It was said that on a single day on Sept 9, 2002, Osu gambled two million pounds sterling (RM13.4 million) and lost 1,757,000 pounds sterling (RM11.8 million).

From Feb 9, 2002 to Sept 15 that year, Osu gambled a total of 23,480,000 pounds sterling (RM158.7 million), registering a loss of 4,683,300 pounds sterling (RM31.6 million), according to Lim's motion which quoted the affidavit.

The motion also noted that Osu had gambled in other London casinos, such as Crockfords, Colony and Rendezvous.

The New Sunday Times had reported that Osu owes more than RM7.14 million to another London casino.

Lim said it is of public interest to know how could Osu could have accumulated "astronomical wealth" that allowed him to gamble RM158.7 million, lose RM31.6 million and run up to RM7.14 million in debts a year after he retired from high political office.

"It is of great public interest issue to ascertain how the national integrity system had failed to prevent corruption and abuse of power as evident in Osu's case," the opposition leader said.

Lim had earlier called on the Anti-Corruption Agency to launch a full investigation into how Osu had accumulated wealth that ran into hundreds of millions of ringgit.

Osu's fate

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has criticised Osu for failing as a leader who is expected to display good moral values.

Abdullah, who is also Umno president, said a leader must not be involved in activities that are immoral and prohibited by religion, and which could tarnish his image and credibility.

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman is reportedly holding a meeting with the premier and Osu in Kuala Lumpur today to discuss the latter's future as Umno division chief.

Osu has also been told to explain the issues linked to the court case to Sabah Umno, so that the party can discuss the matter and submit its recommendations to the Umno disciplinary board.