The chief executive officer of a local credit union for 16 years claims in a lawsuit that he was fired after he questioned loans made to friends and relatives of a loan officer.

Joseph Maldonado seeks $200,000 in damages from Land of Enchantment Federal Credit Union and its board of directors in a complaint filed in state District Court on Feb. 18.

According to the complaint, Maldonado was fired on Jan. 5 . At a board meeting Oct. 27, nearly all of the credit union's employees accused him of being "lazy, overpaid, unprofessional and even harassing."

But the complaint suggests that meeting was a sham because many who attended were ineligible to vote because they are not members of the credit union. The complaint includes a list of more than two dozen people believed to be nonmembers who voted in an election of board members.

The real reason for firing Maldonado, the complaint alleges, is that he was investigating the conduct of his chief loan officer. The complaint accuses her of "irregularities in loans ... to herself and her family and friends, as well as other improper loan practices."

Named as individual defendants in the civil action are the members of the board of directors plus the loan officer, whom the lawsuit says was fired about a month after Maldonado.

Winona Nava, the new CEO of the Land of Enchantment Federal Credit Union at 1101 Don Diego Ave., did not respond to a message seeking comment on Friday.

"These are serious allegations," said Maldonado's lawyer, George Geran. "Mr. Maldonado has evidence of problems both with certain loans and problems with the elections of the very board of directors. We're looking forward to his day in court so he can prove that he was terminated for retaliatory reasons and not because of misconduct on his part."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.