The Hawai'i laborers union will hold new elections after a federal judge upheld the disqualification of one of the union's elected officials.

The 3,500-member Laborers' International Union Local 368 will begin mailing ballots June 18 to elect a new president, recording secretary and business manager and will count the votes on July 24.

Oliver Kupau III was elected as the union's business manager last year but the vote was set aside when one of Kupau's opponents challenged his eligibility because of a criminal conviction.

Kupau was convicted in 2002 of money laundering in connection with an illegal cockfighting operation.

In a June 2008 letter, R. Bruce Edgington, district director for the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards, said Kupau was not eligible to run for office because of the conviction.

Edgington added that federal law prohibits Kupau from being employed by the Local 368 or having any decision-making authority with the union.

The new election comes two years after the local union's international parent placed the Hawai'i unit under the control of a trustee. The international alleged that local union officials spent more than $450,000 on trips to the Philippines and gave preference to friends and relatives for construction jobs.

The trusteeship was lifted in 2008.