For four years, they fought on the same side as a leadership tussle strained the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) to its seams. Today, they find themselves on opposite sides.

Abdul Jalil Abdul Hamid was removed as chairperson of the Penang branch on July 19 and asked to be expelled as Nube president 10 days later, said general secretary and one-time ally J Solomon as he responded to criticism of the exco.

Abdul Jalil has publicly levelled allegations against the exco in relation to two key matters - the awarding of a RM1.9 million contract to renovate the trade union's training centre in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan, and a study trip to Australia and New Zealand.

Two police reports have been lodged since July 21, in Alor Setar (against Solomon) and Kuala Lumpur (against the exco), alleging financial irregularities and abuse of authority.

The second report was lodged two weeks ago by Abdul Jalil, accompanied by Trade Unions director-general Mohd Zubir Mohd Basri, urging investigations by the commercial crimes unit.

In an interview, Solomon dismissed Abdul Jalil's grievances against the Penang branch committee and the exco as "personal ... because he did not get what he wanted".

Contacted yesterday for comments, Abdul Jalil would only say: "I have no (personal) interests. My only interest is for the truth to come out."

Formalities over contract

Solomon flatly denied Abdul Jalil's contention that the detailed proposal to renovate the training centre and the subsequent awarding of the contact had not been tabled to the exco.

"The exco directed the renovation works to proceed at a meeting last December, which Abdul Jalil attended. Four quotations were submitted two months later to him and general treasurer Tan Eng Hong for their deliberation," Solomon said.

"I enquired about their decision around April this year, but Abdul Jalil said his brother knows a contractor in Penang who could do the job. I was surprised because the task of identifying potential contractors had been completed, and I did not want a controversy (over this).

"Both Abdul Jalil and I are from Penang. What would everyone think when the president and general secretary are seen to collaborate by bringing in a contractor from Penang?"

Solomon claimed that Abdul Jalil accepted the explanation and agreed to engage one of the four contractors identified, and to release an initial payment of 10 percent (about RM190,000).

Abdul Jalil, Solomon, and Tan signed the cheque on May 16, but on May 22 (Sunday) Abdul Jalil allegedly directed Solomon to pull it back from the contractor since the exco had yet to be formally informed of the decisions made.

Solomon replied that he could not do so, as he was leaving that day for a conference in Geneva.

"Also, this would have embarrassed the exco. People would have a bad impression of Nube. You can't give somebody a cheque and then ask if you can take it back. Why didn't Jalil say anything (all this time)?

"I would have been willing to take back the cheque if the exco insisted on it, but its meeting would have had to wait for my return. Meanwhile, the cheque was due to be cleared on May 23.

Furthermore, at the next exco meeting on June 9, Abdul Jalil did not object to the awarding of the contract when Solomon raised the matter.

"Why blow hot and cold (over this) when he didn't bring it up? All this because I did not give the contract to his brother's friend? If I had, it would not have become an issue between me and him," Solomon said.

Excluded from study trip

Solomon also denied Abdul Jalil's assertion that the proposal for the study trip in July was not tabled to the exco.

"We did table it. Even if he says we didn't table it, why didn't he question this at the next meeting?" asked Solomon.

He explained that the trip to Australia and New Zealand was for members to learn from the unions there about performance-related salaries because Nube was due to begin negotiations with banks on a new collective agreement.

Solomon said he decided to send all 10 members of the negotiating panel, but that Abdul Jalil was not included.

"I did not take him along for the simple reason that he does not believe in attending courses. From the time he took office until the time he was asked to leave, Nube has organised many courses. He has never attended the courses.

"How can I spend NUBE funds in taking him to Australia or New Zealand? I may as well take somebody who wants to acquire knowledge."

Branch matters

Solomon claimed that the exclusion from the study trip led Abdul Jalil to complain to a Penang branch committee member in a phone call on July 8.

The member then wrote to the Penang committee, putting the conversation on record, because he was concerned over the lack of unity at central level and wanted this resolved.

About the same time, the Penang committee was scheduled to discuss Abdul Jalil's conduct in handling branch matters as well as an attempt to bring his brother into the committee, which was rejected.

On July 19, the committee held a meeting at which he was removed as chairperson and to refer the situation to the headquarters, although Abdul Jalil was not present due to illness.

The committee wrote to the headquarters on July 24, attaching the letter which (translated) reads in part: "(Abdul Jalil) conveyed to me his dissatisfaction because he was not invited to go to Australia along with other officers. It seemed like he was inciting me to hate the general secretary."

Solomon said all this led to a show-cause letter being issued to Abdul Jalil on July 24, which he replied on July 26. However, at the exco meeting on July 28, he did not respond to oral remarks about his conduct.

"Instead, he proposed his own expulsion as Penang branch committee member, president of Nube and as a union member. He then said 'I'm leaving now' and left the meeting," said Solomon.

"As the president and looking at what the union has gone through over the past four years, should he have gone out and smeared the union's name? He's angry with us. He has come to a stage where if he doesn't get what he wants, he will protest. In the process, he is not bothered who he hurts."