Inside the Liberals’ battle to save John Pesutto from bankruptcy

Hawthorn MP John Pesutto is facing bankruptcy and disqualification from parliament if he cannot pay court ordered costs to fellow Liberal Moira Deeming by 30 May. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

In May last year, a select group of business leaders and philanthropists gathered in a Melbourne boardroom for an intimate dinner with a singular focus: saving the then Victorian Liberal leader, John Pesutto.

Organised by a party elder, this wasn’t your usual fundraiser. Money raised bypassed the party and went straight to Pesutto’s legal fund, ahead of a high-profile defamation trial brought by Moira Deeming, the Liberal MP he had pushed to expel from the party room.