Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has issued an 11th-hour plea to the Liberal Party’s powerful administrative committee to save ex-leader John Pesutto from being bankrupted by a multimillion-dollar defamation debt to colleague Moira Deeming.

Kennett’s letter to the 19-member committee came as Deeming filed a bankruptcy notice on Monday after Pesutto failed to pay her $2.3 million in legal costs following her successful defamation case against him.