The Human Resources Ministry will appoint a chartered auditor to audit all the accounts of the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE).

According to a Bernama report today, its minister Dr Fong Chan O­nn said it was time for the ministry to take action to safeguard the interest of the public, namely NUBE members.

He said the ministry's director-general of Trades Union Affairs Department would be directed to invoke Section 57 (3) of the Trades Union Act 1959 to appoint the auditor as soon as possible.

"The appointment is related to the several issues of late raised by the NUBE," he was quoted as saying.

The minister added that the appointment of the auditor was to ensure that union's land and fund were not misappropriated.

Fong said all NUBE accounts would be scrutinised within a month and if discrepancies were found, the ministry would carry out further investigation.

"If there are basis for action, the Trades Union Affairs Department will take further action including bring parties concerned to court," he said.

Leadership tussle

The union has been involved in a protracted leadership tussle, with o­ne faction accusing the other of tampering with its funds.

Yesterday, the faction led by Muhammad Fauzi Shamsuddin accused its rivals headed by Abdul Jalil Abdul Hamid of operating an illegal account in AmBank Berhad.

He claimed the union's main accounts were in three banks Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd, Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Bhd and HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd all of which have been frozen pending the final outcome of the internal dispute.

"The other side is illegally using the Kuala Lumpur branch's account in AmBank for expenses. It is illegal because a branch's account cannot be used by the headquarters," he said.

Muhammad Fauzi was the union president before the infighting began following the ouster of rival team member J Solomon as general secretary in October 2001.

However, Solomon dismissed the claim that his faction was operating an illegal account, saying that this was a diversion tactic.

"Allegations of illegal accounts and other sorts are basically tactics to deviate members' attention from the damage they (Muhammad Fauzi's faction) have already caused so far," he said.

Last week, 15 NUBE members and ex-officials from Muhammad Fauzi's faction walked away with RM1.2 million from two banks within 24 hours following an interim order against named individuals, who are elected officials, preventing them from handling the union's main accounts.

Two days after the withdrawals, the High Court ordered the monies returned to the respective accounts, failing which, contempt proceedings would follow.

On Feb 28 the day Abdul Jalil's faction got the court to order the return of the funds more than RM600, 000 was returned to the union's account in the BCB bank.

When asked about the remaining half a million, Muhammad Fauzi said it has been "placed somewhere for safe-keeping".

"We returned half to ensure that the funds are in a proper place and not in some illegal account managed by certain individuals posing as NUBE office-bearers," he added