Osu Sukam, a senior member of Umno, who ran up debts of more than RM7.1 million in a British casino has reportedly resigned amid calls for an investigation into how he amassed his wealth.

Osu, a former Sabah chief minister, chalked up the debt when the Ritz Hotel Casino in London allowed him to gamble on credit.

Sabah Umno chief Musa Aman told the New Straits Times newspaper that Osu had resigned as a party division chief.

The newspaper said Osu also owed an undisclosed amount to a casino in Melbourne, Australia. It said the matter was resolved in the Sabah High Court Tuesday, but it was not clear if Osu had paid the debt in full.

Crown Casino media director Gary O'Neil told the daily that the casino considered the matter closed.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last week slammed Osu for running up the massive gambling debt.

"A leader must be sincere and honest and refrain from activities that are banned by Islam and that can stain the party," he said.

ACA called to probe

The Ritz Hotel Casino obtained a judgement from a British court to recover the debt and it later applied to a Malaysian High Court to enforce the British court order on Osu.

But the Malaysian court delivered a blow to the casino's bid to recover the money when High Court Judge Ian Chin dismissed the application in a hearing in Kota Kinabalu.

Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said meanwhile the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) must investigate how Osu was able to gamble away millions of dollars after his retirement from active politics in March 2001.

"The ACA should launch a thorough investigation as to whether Osu had corruptly and illegally amassed such astronomical wealth as to enable him to gamble," he said in a statement.