By Emmanuel Samarathisa
BURSA Malaysia and the Securities Commission Malaysia are still reviewing Airbus SE’s admission of bribing staff of AirAsia Group Bhd (AAGB) and AirAsia X (AAX), despite both regulators launching independent probes more than a month ago.
“Please note that as the matter is currently being reviewed, we are not at liberty to comment further,” SC said in a statement.
Bursa Malaysia also told FocusM that it is not the regulator’s “policy to comment on specific cases.”
Both regulators launched separate investigations into the matter on Feb 2. The other enforcement agency, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), also launched its probe into the scandal but has yet to present its findings.
Earlier today, BDO Governance Advisory Sdn Bhd cleared AAGB founders Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun of wrongdoing as both men were implicated in the bribery admission.
AAGB, in a March 20 filing with Bursa Malaysia, said that BDO had submitted its report on March 19 to the board after conducting an independent internal inquiry.
BDO was appointed by the AAGB board on Feb 11 following Airbus’ admission to Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on Jan 31 of bribing AAGB and AAX staff as a reward for an order of 135 planes.
SFO said Airbus paid US$50 mil (RM205 mil) in sponsorship to a sports team jointly owned by the two AirAsia executives. These were among the details Airbus divulged to authorities as part of a US$4 bil settlement.
While these executives were not named, Fernandes and Meranun had been implicated due to their past ownership of the now-defunct Caterham Formula One team.
AAGB said it had accepted the final report issued by BDO. In summary, the findings of BDO are as follows:
- AAGB has a robust aircraft procurement process. The process was complied with and AAGB’s aircraft acquisition was justifiable and at prices favourable to AAGB.
- AAGB’s sponsorship of the sports team was approved in compliance with its procedures.
- The sponsorship of the sports team by Airbus was disclosed to and supported by the board of directors of AAGB at the relevant time. The sponsorship showed demonstrable benefits to the AirAsia Group and was not linked to any purchase decisions by AAGB.
- The two executives (Fernandes and Kamarudin) had properly disclosed their interests to the board of directors of AAGB and abstained from discussions and/or decisions relating to the said sponsorships.
AAGB said as the report had been accepted, the board had resolved to reinstate the executive positions of Fernandes and Kamarudin while the appointment of Tharumalingam Kanagalingam (also known as Bo Lingam) had been rescinded.
AAGB’s shares closed 30.77% higher at 68 sen while AAX’s shares closed 25% higher at 5 sen on March 20. – March 20, 2020
