The leadership dispute between two factions in the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) turned physical today when former members and outsiders attempted to enter the union's registered premises o­n Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

Two NUBE employees were injured after a group of 30 people, believed to be supporters of rival leader Muhammad Fauzi Shamsuddin, tried to force their way into the union office this morning.

At press time, two reports had been lodged at the Dang Wangi police station in Jalan Campbell by the union's administrative staff S Sivabalan and the private assistant to the general secretary A Karuna.

In a press statement issued later this evening, NUBE president Abdul Jalil Abdul Hamid said the 30 expelled and suspended individuals who tried to force their way in were led by Muhammad Fauzi Shamsuddin, Mohd Noor Basir, Jamal-ud-deen Nasir Khan and Abd Malek Daud.

Besides the four, the police reports also named P Tamil Selvan, Nor Aslan, Ramzy Rameshan Abdullah and Samsul Kamar Idris as being part of the group.

"Our staff prevented the unruly mob from entering the office which resulted in executive officer Wan Toren Wan Yusoff being kicked and punched, and hit in the chest.

"Wan Toren was later referred to Kuala Lumpur Hospital by a nearby private clinic while Karuna (who) hurt her arm (from trying to) shut the glass door was treated at the clinic," Abdul Jalil said in the statement.

Stressing its stand against violence and threats, NUBE's top officers met this afternoon and urged the police to book the persons responsible for the unruly acts.

Violent reaction

They want Inspector-General of Police Norian to probe into the numerous reports made against the individuals mentioned above regarding the misappropriation of union funds, assault and criminal break-ins, and the removal of documents in the Seremban and Kedah branch offices previously.

"We are appealing to the police chief to act o­n the recent reports against the unlawful withdrawal of RM1.2 million and deposition of the amount into personal accounts," added Abdul Jalil.

"In the meantime, we call upon the 28,000 union members not to be daunted (by the incident) but to stay united to fight these unscrupulous individuals who are attempting to destroy the union."

According to the police reports o­n today's incident, a group of 30 men showed up at the NUBE office at 10.30am and started to push and shove through the glass door of the NUBE office.

Several staff members who were inside the office tried to hold the door shut after identifying some of the group members as those who had been expelled and suspended from the union.

"After a while, a few of them started hitting a union staff who was outside the office," said Karuna in her report.

When contacted, Muhammad Fauzi, who denied being anywhere near the scene of today's incident, said the NUBE constitution gave members the right to enter the union office anytime for related business.

"I was told this morning that members wishing to inspect the accounts were barred from entering the union office despite producing their membership cards."

He said members were "obstructed by certain individuals who were not even union officials".

Legitimate contention

Most members, he said, had come from outstation to the High Court in the morning for the judicial review of the director-general of trade union's findings with regard to the endorsement of the legitimate NUBE leadership last May.

The judicial review was postponed to May 28.

Muhammad Fauzi explained that o­n the way back from the court to the office in the Koperasi Bank-Bank Malaysia, some members had decided to stop by the NUBE office to check o­n the accounts.

"My colleagues and I o­nly heard about the scuffle at the union office later. We don't know exactly what happened there."

NUBE general secretary J Solomon ( photo ), when contacted, said the union constitution does allow members to enter but "not unruly mobs who try to charge into the premises, threaten the staff or injure them".

"In fact, some of them are not even our members," he said, adding that the office sustained a cracked glass door and a broken lock.

At a press conference by Solomon o­n Friday, Muhammad Fauzi and his team were accused of using deceptive means to withdraw RM1.2 million from the union's

accounts in two banks, prompting police reports to be lodged in several

states.

Asked to comment o­n that, Muhammad Fauzi said the monies were withdrawn according to the authority to handle the union's main accounts granted in an interim court order.

"We withdrew the money to put it in a safe place because we want to prevent any misuse by the parties claiming to represent our members as the legitimate officials."

He claimed that the application for an interim order was made by seven ordinary members as provided under the Trade Union Act.

"The judge granted the order and named us the legitimate office-bearers after considering the affidavit and all we did was to follow the court order strictly, nothing more or less."

Muhammad Fauzi said whether or not the judge was misled into granting the order needs to be proven because "we are the legitimate officials as registered by the director-general of trade union o­n May 29".