According to Bernama, the group arrived at the MACC office here at 9.15am.

Speaking to reporters outside the MACC building before lodging the report, Vernon showed them a pen drive which he claimed contained “incontrovertible” evidence of vote-buying.

“We now have incontrovertible evidence that vote-buying occurred on Saturday, Nov 10, in Julau, adding to the mountain of evidence already available showing that fraud and various criminal elements have taken place,” he was quoted as saying.

“In this tiny thumb drive is explosive and shocking evidence that blatant and unbridled corruption occurred rampantly in Julau on Nov 10.”

He added that details of the matter were “sickening”, and the modus operandi “disgusting, to say the least”.

He also advised party leaders and members to show respect for journalists and press freedom following an incident at a hotel in Sibu yesterday where a reporter said she was manhandled by an election supervisor while taking footage of the election centre.

DayakDaily reporter Nancy Nais claimed a man in a red shirt with a tag reading “pengawas” had suddenly grabbed her upper right arm and forced her out of the room towards the hotel lift.

She said she had lodged a police report on the matter at the IPD one-stop centre in Kuching.

“On behalf of the party, I would like to apologise to Nancy Nais for what happened to her, and I would like to tell her that the party doesn’t represent such things,” Vernon said to reporters.

He added that the person involved needed to apologise to Nancy and issue a statement on why he had behaved in that manner.

“Of course, it was wrong and should not have been done in the first place,” he said, urging his colleagues in PKR to treat all journalists with respect.

Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian said in a WhatsApp message yesterday that he had advised Nancy to lodge a police report, adding that PKR does not condone such actions.