Outgoing New Haven police union president Arpad Tolnay has been suspended from the union and barred from acting on its behalf.

Last Friday, incoming police union president Louis Cavaliere Jr. delivered a letter to Tolnay informing him that he had been suspended from the union for 30 days while he is investigated for allegedly using the union credit card for personal expenses, the New Haven Register reported. But the saga over Tolnay’s removal continued on Monday after he told the Register the move was “unnecessary and ridiculous” and vowed to fight his removal as union president.

“I’m not going to let [the union executive board] destroy my credibility with the games that they’re playing,” Tolnay told the Register. “I don’t know what the motivating factor is but now they’re going to have to justify what they did.”

While Tolnay said June 21 that he would voluntarily step down as president of Local 530, he rescinded his resignation after the executive board held what he called a “secret meeting” to suspend him, the Register reported.

Tolnay told the New Haven Independent he would make his case at a July 18 meeting to rank-and-file officers.

“I’m going to make an appeal to the membership and I’ll let them decide,” Tolnay told the Independent. “And I’ll respectfully go with whatever [the majority’s] decision is.”

If he does not voluntarily resign, Tolnay will face a process similar to impeachment, Cavaliere told the Register, adding that such a move against a sitting union president would be “unprecedented.”

In that process, a representative from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the parent union of Local 530, would conduct a hearing that allows all parties to present evidence about the matter.