PUTRAJAYA: A businessman from Sarawak won his appeal at the Federal Court to set aside a tour agent’s counterclaim against him, which sought to recover gambling debts.
In a unanimous decision delivered yesterday, the three-judge panel led by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Sebli ruled that gaming and wagering contracts are deemed unlawful and gambling debts are not enforceable under Malaysian law.
Fellow Federal Court judge Datuk Nordin Hassan who read out the court’s judgment, said tour agent Ting Siu Hua’s counterclaim was to claim recovery of gambling debts from businessman Datuk Ting Ching Lee.
“It is undisputed that the credit lines and the rolling rebate were for the appellant (Ching Lee) to purchase the Naga Casino’s gambling chips so he could gamble at the casino.
“That was what he did and he lost and had to pay for the amount of the credit lines and rolling rebate,” the judge said, adding that the credit facilities could not be termed as a genuine loan independent of the appellant’s (Ching Lee) gaming activities at the casino.
Justice Nordin said Section 31(1) of the Contracts Act 1950 and Section 26 of the Civil Law 1956 were enacted to curb gambling activities and the courts in Malaysia have also taken the stand that gambling is against public policy.
“There is no good or beneficial for the public if gambling activities were to be encouraged.
“That was why the government took a clear stand when it voiced its view in Parliament to combat online or offline gambling,” Justice Nordin said.
The third judge sitting on the panel is Justice Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
The panel had allowed Ching Lee’s appeal to overturn the decision of the appellate court that had allowed Siu Ha’s counterclaim to recover USD1.5 million credit and USD193,800 rolling rebate which had been given to Ching Lee for gambling at Naga Casino in Cambodia.
The dispute began when Ching Lee and two others filed a lawsuit against Siu Hua for defamation, which prompted the latter to file a counterclaim seeking to recover monies based on two lines of credit extended to Ching Lee for gambling at the casino in Cambodia.
The High Court dismissed both the defamation lawsuit and Siu Hua’s counterclaim. The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s dismissal of the defamation suit but allowed Siu Hua’s appeal regarding his counterclaim for recovery of credits, resulting in the matter going to the Federal Court.
Siu Hua has been a tour agent since 2000 and he was appointed as a promoter or junket to bring players to gamble at casinos.
In 2015, Ching Lee with two others made a trip to the casino where he was granted a credit of USD1.5 million and a rolling rebate of USD193,800.
After returning from the trip, they alleged that Siu Ha had caused the publication of defamatory statements against them in a Mandarin newspaper and WeChat app.
Subsequently, the trio filed a defamation lawsuit against Siu Ha, who, in turn, lodged a counterclaim at the High Court seeking the recovery of monies that had been given.
