Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) secretary-general Josie Fernandez maintains that she still holds the post because she has yet to tender her resignation to the incoming executive committee.

However, the email address assigned to the secretary-general has been “hacked” and she can no longer use the password to access mail in order to perform her duties, Josie said.

NONE She said the move was tantamount to "violation of privacy" as the email account contains confidential information on staff matters, funding and research on issues of defence and corruption in labour migration.

"This act seems to have the sanction and backing of the new executive committee, which has condoned something that has never happened before," she told Malaysiakini.

"When I took over from the last secretary-general, everything went smoothly, according to procedure.”

Josie said she wants to clarify matters as she has been receiving queries about her absence from the new exco line-up.

Last Friday, Akhbar Sattar defeated Josie for the president’s post by way of a secret ballot to replace Paul Low, who has resigned as the NGO's president.

The other new office bearers for the 2013-14 term are deputy president Mohamad Ali Hasan, secretary-general Loi Keng Min and treasurer Mohamed Raslan Abdul Rahman.

Josie said when she saw four of the six exco members vying for the deputy president's position, she expressed her intention to resign as secretary-general.

She then asked for two weeks to tie up loose ends and to settle outstanding matters related to the organisation.

"However, the exco interpreted this to mean that I was resigning  the position with immediate effect and did not permit me to participate in the voting for the deputy president," she said.

"So, since there was no further role for me, I decided to leave the meeting. However, I have not tendered my written resignation yet.”

‘False insinuations’

Last week, Josie tried to mediate an open spat between Low and member Koris Atan, who questioned the former’s integrity for taking up a ministerial post while still TI-M chief.

NONE Koris had also taken Low ( left ) to task for having signed the Election Integrity Pledge with premier and BN head Najib Abdul Razak on Feb 20.

Josie said the issue of her speaking to Malaysiakini had been raised during the exco meeting, with "insinuations" that she was behind Koris'  statement.

"That is completely false. It was Low who sought my assistance to speak to Koris, and later I clarified the matter when the media contacted me," she explained.