KUALA LUMPUR: The Registrar of Societies (RoS) has dismissed claims that Perikatan Nasional (PN) is an unregistered entity.
RoS, in a statement, said such claims were baseless and unfounded.
It said PN was registered through the issuance of registration certificate PPM-019-14-07082020, which was approved and signed by the RoS.
"PN was approved and came into force on Aug 7, under the political category, under the provisions of the Societies Act 1966 (Act 335).
"The registration certificate, party logo and constitution were signed and submitted to PN as soon as the party's registration was approved.
"In this regard, RoS would like to stress that the statement stating that PN has no registration record is completely unfounded," it said.
RoS also denied claims that PN's approval status was not available in its system.
"This is untrue as the system on our website automatically updates organisation approvals every two monrths. This means that a search for PN's approval status would only appear early next month (October) as the approval was issued in August.
"However, if there is a specific search made via the eROSES system, it will show that PN was approved on Aug 7. Any party's information contained in the eROSES system, however, can only be accessed by the party's secretary only."
Earlier today, PKR deputy Youth chief Syed Badli Shah Syed Osman claimed that checks at the RoS website failed to show that PN is a registered entity.
He had urged the RoS to reveal the registration status of PN.
Syed Badli Shah had said that if PN was indeed an unregistered entity, all candidates contesting under the PN banner in the ongoing Sabah election should not be allowed to contest.
Meanwhile, Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Dr Azmi Sharom, when contacted on the issue, said the commission only allows parties to compete and use their logos upon confirmation from the RoS.
"Whether the RoS updates their website or not is beyond our control."
On Aug 10, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) vice president Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari said that PN had already officially submitted its application to become a legal entity to the RoS.
He said the application for the coalition to be formally registered was submitted the week before.