There were angry scenes at the annual general meeting of Gurranabraher Credit Union on Monday night when members of the audience began throwing missiles at the branch's directors.
Gurranabraher Credit Union in Cork city, with an asset base of €65 million and more than 15,000 members, is one of the Republic's biggest credit unions.
The branch told members that it was forced to cancel its loan interest rebate for 2003 after it was hit with a €1.5 million bill following a High Court action.
The bills are linked to an investigation into allegations made against senior staff who were sacked from their posts. It also involves a legal challenge by former manager of the credit union Mr Alec Good and deputy manager Ms Patricia O'Neill surrounding their removal from their positions.
The credit union is currently in talks with the Irish League of Credit Unions and its legal advisers to see if they can pay out a dividend of 1.75 per cent amounting to €900,000 to its 15,000 members.
At Monday night's meeting members rejected the auditor's report and the offer of the dividend. The offer of the 1.75 per cent was rejected by members as it is a significant reduction on the 3 per cent dividend paid out to them in 2002. The lowering of the dividend was caused by the €1.5 million bill.
The meeting turned ugly when members of the audience threw a bottle and a microphone at two directors.
Several of the 400 members who attended the meeting called for resignations and board members were heckled. When it came to electing the board for the coming year, some members ripped up their ballot papers in protest. The existing board of directors were re-elected.
Gurranabraher Credit Union directors refused to comment last night on the a.g.m. events.
However the credit union's chairman MR Michael O'Connell said: "We have a surplus of €900,000 and that belongs to the members. I am anxious that they receive their dividend over the next few days."
The credit union was investigated by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation's money-laundering unit. It followed an investigation of Gurranabraher's affairs by the accountancy firm Ernst & Young.
That investigation discovered evidence that a £100,000 loan was given to a credit union member who held just £100 in his account at the time. Details of another member's account had been forwarded to the money-laundering unit of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.
Gurranabraher Garda Station had no report of an incident at the meeting, but a high-ranking credit union source said that a complaint may be made in the coming days.
