KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 (AFP) - 18:44 - A top opposition leader on Sunday urged Malaysian lawmakers to probe the conduct of Chief Justice Eusoff Chin in order to restore public confidence in the judiciary.

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), said parliament should be summoned for an emergency session.

"The first step to rebuild a judicial system is to form a commission of inquiry to restore public confidence in the independence of the judiciary," he said in a statement.

The controversy centres on a meeting in New Zealand in December 1994 between Eusoff and prominent lawyer V.K. Lingam.

Lingam is representing tycoon Vincent Tan in an appeal case which is being heard by a panel headed by Eusoff, the official Bernama news agency reported.

Eusoff has said his meeting with Lingam was a chance one, denying the lawyer paid for his vacation and producing financial records to show he paid for the holiday himself.

Lim's remarks coincide with the Malaysian Bar Council's plans for an urgent meeting later this month to debate on whether to appoint a tribunal to probe Eusoff's behaviour.

Council president Sulaiman Abdullah said Saturday the meeting, to be held on June 23, would discuss a motion calling on Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to make a written request to the king for the appointment of a tribunal to investigate Eusoff's conduct.

The council, which represents all lawyers, would also consider whether to call for the suspension of Eusoff pending a decision, Sulaiman said in a statement.

Lim hailed the lawyers' meeting and described it as timely.

Photographs of the meeting between Eusoff and the lawyer have been posted on the Internet for the past two years. But the controversy burst into the open this week when Eusoff hit back at comments by Rais Yatim,the minister responsible for legal affairs, for criticising the meeting.Speaking in an Australian radio interview last month, Rais criticised Eusoff for "improper" behaviour in socialising with the lawyer.

Lim also said erosion of public confidence in the judiciary needed to be halted since there had been growing concern about the deterioration of public confidence in the justice system for the past decade.