exclusive

This is not the first time the National Union of Bank Employees has found itself facing upset members but a controversial branch annual dinner last year and allegations of tampering meeting minutes may well be the last straw which breaks the camel's back.

A copy of a fact-finding report on the raging controversy surrounding the Kuala Lumpur branch's annual dinner last Dec 29 has revealed significant differences between two sets of minutes on the branchs Sept 17 meeting to discuss the dinner.

Nube general secretary J Solomon had launched the fact-finding mission after receiving numerous complaints from members in January on discrepancies including first indications that there were two sets of minutes on the same meeting.

The second set was made available to Nube national exco council members during their meeting last Wednesday as part of a report by Solomon. A copy has been obtained by malaysiakini .

In brief, the tampered version states discussion on the annual dinner had only begun on Sept 17 when it had in fact been discussed in a previous meeting and minuted accordingly. The Sept 17 meeting was only a follow-up.

At the Sept 17 meeting, the branch secretary said members had approved at the last Triennial General Meeting a budget of RM100,000 for social events and it was time to organise a dinner as none had been held for the past three years.

The KL branch, in a reply to a query by Solomon stated that a total of 452 tickets were sold at RM50 each. It also stated that approximately 500 to 600 people, including human resource managers, officers from various financial institutions, national exco members, suppliers and Nube members had attended the function.

Batik attire dispute

One glaring discrepancy which prompted a complaint to the Trade Union Affairs Department, was the insertion of three committee members' names as having proposed and seconded certain items for the dinner.

The three, Rosida Abd Mutalib, Abdul Zaman Abdullah and Nazri Samsudin, submitted a six-point complaint to the Trades Union Affairs Department in Shah Alam yesterday against the KL Nube branch secretariat for using their names with the intention to cheat.

An example of tampering is evident as the initial version of the minutes has the branch secretary telling Rosida, and the Annual Dinner and Dance Committee, to report on the upcoming event, which she did.

"The branch unanimously agreed to the proposal," reads the first version.

In the tampered version however, Rosida is recorded as proposing tickets to be sold at RM50 to reduce the cost on the union but in a letter disputing the minutes to Solomon dated Feb 5, she said her proposal was RM60 per person.

She also said Abdul Zaman never proposed any batik attire for the branch committee and neither did Nazri second that proposal.

"Also, there was no budget for the dinner. So, I don't agree with what is in the minutes now," she said in the letter.

According to the tampered version, Abdul Zaman had supposedly proposed a budget of RM200 for the batik attire, to which the committee unanimously agreed.

Minutes confirmed

Similar denials of parts of the tampered minutes pertaining to the dinner were sent in writing to Solomon by several branch committee and working committee members, who said the minutes were endorsed at the 14th committee meeting on Jan 9.

Another discrepancy pointing towards tampering is the proposer and seconder of the minutes where S Sivanesan was the proposer and Mahdzir Mahamud, the seconder.

However, in his reply to Solomon dated Feb 5, Nazri said he was the minutes secretary during the Sept 17 meeting and thus recorded Ravindar Singh as proposer and S Sivanesan as seconder.

Both the minutes have been confirmed by KL branch chairman Toh Seng Hock.