Amid a tit-for-tat between Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua and 1MDB president Arul Kanda on whether they were prepared to debate each other, NGO leader Ramesh Rao has suddenly jumped into the fray, offering to act as moderator for the two.

Ramesh, who leads the Pertubuhan Minda dan Sosial Prihatin, was best known for accusing Sarawak Report editor-in-chief Clare Rewcastle Brown of fabricating allegations of misappropriation against 1MDB and his police report against her.

Ramesh said he was volunteering himself as the leader of a ‘non-partisan’ NGO which champions the interest of the rakyat.

"I will render a fair moderation to both parties for the rakyat to know the real truth about 1MDB.

"I also want this debate to take place the soonest. (I hope) the organiser of this debate will accept my offer to be a moderator," he said in a statement today.

However, Ramesh echoed Arul's call for Pua to first resign from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

"I also call on Pua to resign from his position in PAC in order to maintain the integrity of the PAC’s investigation (into 1MDB) and to avoid any conflict of interest," he said.

Last night, Pua rubbished Arul's interview with Bernama TV as a public relations exercise and offered to host another live interview with Arul, with the former as the interviewer.

This morning, Arul accepted the challenge, but said Pua must first resign from PAC.

However, Pua described the condition set by Arul as ‘stupid excuses’ and asked that the 1MDB president be ‘man enough’ to accept the challenge unconditionally.