KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — The federal opposition is planning to lodge a report with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) on the financial status of Ramesh Rao, the head of a pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) group and the man who claims responsibility for a series of video confessions by a former journalist claiming that Sarawak Report had fabricated evidence for its reports.

PKR vice-president and secretary-general Rafizi Ramli said the party’s youth wing will lodge a report with the RoS next week on claims that Ramesh is a bankrupt.

“The youth wing will make a report at RoS next week and bring up the complaint to relevant authorities. RoS should take stern action against Ramesh and his NGO, as their actions have directly breached the society laws,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

The Societies Act 1966 prohibits any undischarged bankrupts from holding any office in registered groups.

An undischarged bankrupt who does not comply with this provision faces a penalty of no more than three years jail, a RM10,000 fine or both.

A check with the RoS’ online e-ROSES database showed that Ramesh is listed as the chairman of Pertubuhan Minda dan Social Prihatin as of this year.

Rafizi said the purpose of lodging a report with the RoS is to show that the opposition and whistleblowers will not be cowed by attempts to stop them from reporting on national issues such as the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fiasco.

He said it is clear that Putrajaya and the ruling party Umno are “using people like Ramesh” to intimidate whistleblowers and distract public attention from the real issues.

“The report we lodge would be a clear message that we would hound them as much as they have done to us,” Rafizi said.

DAP’s Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, meanwhile, will lodge a police report today against Ramesh and the latter’s NGO colleague, Tony Tan Chee Chong, another alleged bankrupt who claims to be a former aide to Seputeh MP Teresa Kok.

“We are working on a case to lodge a police report; we will then be forwarding it to the RoS for them to take action. This must be investigated properly,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Lim said the dubious backgrounds of Ramesh and all who were involved in the so-called Sarawak Report exposé had backfired on Umno minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who stepped forward last week to expose an alleged conspiracy video.

“Abdul Rahman, at his (own) expense, has taught a very good lesson to politicians from both sides of the divide. We must always do our background checks well and not be easily fooled by anyone who comes up to us. If you have paid them for it, you have lost out,” Lim said.

Ramesh entered the spotlight after he released a video of former Sarawak Tribune editor Lester Melanyi claiming an alleged conspiracy involving London-based blog Sarawak Report and Malaysian opposition politicians to forge documents on 1MDB.

According to Lester, the forged documents were subsequently used by the whistleblower site to discredit Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Lester, however, admitted to Malay Mail Online that he was paid to expose Sarawak Report and later admitted that the picture of the website’s alleged designer used in the second exposé video was the wrong one.

The second video, which surfaced earlier last week, was of a UK rail manager.