(Oct 28): Seven Umno leaders are in danger of being suspended after publicly disparaging the party, said secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

While refusing to disclose the identities of the seven, Tengku Adnan said a committee, which he did not name, was scrutinising the matter at the Umno headquarters in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

He said the committee would present its findings to the presidential council and the disciplinary board.

"Once the process goes, we will suspend their membership and the positions that go with it," he told reporters outside the Parliament lobby today.

"We can't take all this sort of nonsense anymore. If you don't believe in the party struggle, you leave the party.

"We do not want people who are 'gunting dalam lipatan, duri dalam daging' in our party," he said, using the Malay proverb for traitors.

Tengku Adnan, who is also federal territories minister, said Umno had its own constitution and code of ethics to which all members should adhere.

Earlier this month, Tengku Adnan said the Malay ruling party was monitoring the seven leaders.

Recently, Umno members led by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad led a call for party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak's resignation as prime minister.

Dr Mahathir has been criticising Najib over his alleged mismanagement of the country, from alleged financial irregularities over the prime minister's brainchild, state-owned investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and a RM2.6 billion donation deposited in Najib's private accounts, to the use of new detention law Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) against government critics.

Najib's former deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and former minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, whom he axed from Cabinet in a late July reshuffle, have also been critical of him. – The Malaysian Insider