Chief Justice Eusoff Chin and lawyer V.K Lingam hired a pleasure boat together on Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand while holidaying there in 1994, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported today.

The report, which quoted "people familiar with the trip", stated that Eusoff and Lingam rented a 13-metre catamaran for a cruise on the lake with their families on Dec 29, 1994.

The report also claimed that the meeting between the Chief Justice and Lingam was not a chance encounter as maintained by Eusoff and that Eusoff's holiday itinerary "closely mirrorred" Lingam's own New Zealand holiday over a period of eight days in December that year.

"According to airline-ticket stubs and other travel itineraries, Tun Eusoff and Datuk Lingam, with their families, were booked on the same Air New Zealand flight from Singapore to Auckland on Dec 22, 1994, and again four days later on a flight from Christchurch," said the report, datelined Kuala Lumpur.

The AWSJ reported also that both Eusoff's and Lingam's families later travelled to Queenstown, a three-and-a-half hour drive from Christchurch, together on Dec 27.

The report said that neither Eusoff nor Lingam responded to requests to discuss the matter.