The National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE), which suffered a RM23 million loss in share market deals, said in a press statement that they are aware that some people from within and outside the union may capitalise on the "temporary set-back" and sabotage its current negotiations for a new collective agreement leading up to the bank mergers.

According to a high ranking officer of NUBE who requested anonymity, some people intended to raise panic among the members, hoping that they will react strongly to the issue.

"Some people are trying to revive the news, expecting the members to be disunited," he said, adding that they were trying to "break" the union before its negotiations for a new collective agreement in March. The proposed bank mergers are expected to lead to retrenchments.

He added that the Ecopark and Country Resort development project initiated by NUBE to raise funds, has also been targeted by those who wished to create dissatisfaction among members and discredit the union.

However, he said the members were fully aware of the losses and had not panicked as they had a full account of the story. According to its "news flash" circulated to the membership in April 1999, NUBE had sacked its general secretary K.Sanmugam for alleged mismanagement of union funds at the Dec 16, 1998 National Executive Council (NEC) meeting. Sanmugam had been NUBE general secretary for the past 14 years.

The NUBE "news flash" reported that Sanmugam admitted in the NEC meeting that he had incurred a contra loss of about RM8.7million and was solely responsible for his actions, having acted without authority of the council. NUBE lodged a police report on Dec 17, 1998.

Yesterday's New Straits Times reported that NUBE got its fingers burnt through contra deals in the stock market, and Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn said the ministry had lodged the police report last year against the union for its failure to get the necessary approval before investing the stocks.

NUBE general secretary G. Gopala Krishnan today issued a statement saying that the losses were only a temporary set-back as the union has made appeals against the High Court judgement in an effort to recover the losses made through contra deals in the stock market.