The Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity today shot down the appeal by whistleblower Mohd Ramli Manan to be heard.

Its chairperson Bernard Dompok told reporters in Parliament - following a two-hour meeting with committee members - that the decision is final.

"The committee is quite happy with what we have decided so we don't need to review it and further more we have a lot of 'debt' (in cases)," he said.

Ramli had penned a series of explosive allegations, ranging from corruption to sexual assault, against Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Zulkipli Mat Noor.

Ramli, who was the former ACA Sabah director, had written the report prior to his retirement last December. The document was exposed by an anti-corruption watchdog last month.

Following this, the select committee said it would call both Ramli and Zulkipli to testify but later changed its decision on the grounds of pending related court cases.

However, Dompok did not cite any reasons for today's decision but indicated that the vote by the 12-member committee was almost unanimous.

"It was a big majority," he said.

He added that there were "many things on our plate, with many other public hearings" and that the problems with the ACA issue were already highlighted.

Kit Siang disappointed

Previously, Dompok said the committee had considered the statement by former land and cooperative minister Kasitah Gaddam's counsel that his client is contemplating citing Ramli for contempt over his comments in an exclusive interview with malaysiakini .

In addition, the committee felt that a public hearing might also be subjudice in Ramli's suit against the government.

On March 7, the former civil servant had filed a suit against the government and several relevant parties to claim back his pension and other compensation.

Today is the third time that the committee had deliberated on whether to hold a hearing.

On Friday, Ramli's lawyer M Manoharan said he had written to Dompok to urge for the hearing to be held and argued that the reasons for the cancellation were unacceptable.

Contacted later, committee member Lim Kit Siang expressed disappointment with the decision.

Lim, who is also the parliamentary opposition leader, had pushed the committee to hear the matter.